What does using the air conditioning in your holiday home cost?
An air conditioner running for an afternoon usually costs between 30 and 90 cents. If you let a guest leave it on all day, that adds up to 1 to 3 euros, depending on the device and the outside temperature. There is no fixed amount that applies to every holiday home: it depends on three things that you can all find out or measure yourself.
Those three things are the power of the air conditioner (how much electricity it needs per hour), the number of hours it actually runs, and the price you charge per kWh (kilowatt-hour, the unit in which electricity consumption is measured, roughly what one electric kettle uses in an hour). Multiply those three together and you have the amount.
Where the power comes from
A small mobile air conditioner for one bedroom often draws around 800 to 1000 watts. A fixed split-unit air conditioner that cools an entire living room is more likely to be between 1200 and 2000 watts. That power is stated on the nameplate of the device, usually on the back or bottom. Note: this is the power consumption during cooling, not the power at startup, which can be temporarily higher.
An air conditioner does not run continuously at full power. Once the set temperature is reached, the compressor reduces or shuts off completely, and comes back on later. As a result, actual consumption is often lower than the maximum power on the nameplate. In hot weather and with a low setting, the device runs longer and consumption gets closer to that maximum.
Where the operating hours come from
The second factor, the operating hours, is the most uncertain. Some guests only turn on the air conditioner for sleeping, others leave it on all day, even when they are not home. This difference determines most of the outcome. A system that shows actual consumption per day provides more clarity than an estimate afterwards. With a module that measures consumption live, you and the guest can see in the app exactly how many kWh the air conditioner used that day, instead of having to reconstruct it afterwards.
A calculation example
Take a split-unit air conditioner of 1500 watts that actually cools an average of four hours a day (not running for four hours, but actually drawing power for four hours). That is 1.5 kW × 4 hours = 6 kWh per day. At an electricity rate of 0.35 euros per kWh, that comes to 2.10 euros per day. Over a seven-day stay, that is just over 14 euros, solely for the air conditioner.
This example immediately shows why a fixed amount for electricity in the rental price is difficult to make work: a family that hardly cools and a guest who leaves the door open while the air conditioner is running consume many times more than each other. If you charge electricity per consumption, you place that difference with the person who caused it.
For those who want to calculate it precisely
If you want to estimate the consumption of your own air conditioner beforehand, the nameplate and a guess at operating hours will do. If you want to know it exactly, you measure it with a plug-in meter at the outlet, or you have it shown live via a system that measures per connection. In the knowledge base with worked-out devices and consumption figures there are similar calculation examples for other high consumers in a holiday home, so you can compare air conditioner, sauna and jacuzzi side by side.
What this means for your rate
Whether you use a fixed amount, a meter reading at arrival and departure, or a rate per kWh: the power and operating hours of the air conditioner do not change, only the way you present the amount to the guest does. If you are unsure which billing method suits your property, the decision tool with a few short questions a first indication, and you can see in the overview of subscriptions and costs per object what a metering module costs for your situation.
If you have a specific question about your own property, equipment or rate after reading, you will probably find the answer immediately in the frequently asked questions about consumption and billing or you start the free quick-scan to see where your situation stands in just a few minutes.