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Cost to run a window air conditioner in Kentucky (August 2026 rates)
At 13.80¢ per kilowatt-hour — Kentucky's average residential price in August 2026 — running a window air conditioner costs $95.39 a year. That is 24% less than the national average of $126. Kentucky's residential rate is up 5.3% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $90.55 to $95.39 a year.
- Per hour
- 9.9¢
- Per day of use
- 79.5¢
- Per month
- $7.95
- Per year
- $95.39
Assumption: 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year — 691 kWh a year. Typical of a 10,000 BTU window unit. Small 5,000 BTU units draw closer to 500 W; 15,000 BTU units closer to 1,400 W. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How Kentucky compares
Kentucky pays 13.80¢/kWh, the 8th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $30.14 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same window air conditioner costs $87.92 a year in Nevada and $326 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $238 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 13.42¢ | $7.73 | $92.76 |
| Nebraska | 13.54¢ | $7.80 | $93.59 |
| Kentucky | 13.80¢ | $7.95 | $95.39 |
| Arkansas | 14.37¢ | $8.28 | $99.33 |
| Mississippi | 14.43¢ | $8.31 | $99.74 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a window air conditioner.
What else costs about the same in Kentucky
Cutting the number down
- Sealing the gaps around the sleeve with foam matters more than the unit's efficiency rating. Warm air leaking back in is load you pay to remove twice.
- An inverter model modulates instead of slamming on and off, which shows up as a lower effective duty cycle rather than a lower nameplate watt.
- Shading the outdoor half of the unit lowers the temperature it rejects heat into, which lowers the work it has to do.
Questions
- How much does a window air conditioner cost per month in Kentucky?
- About $7.95 a month, assuming 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year at 13.80¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a window air conditioner use?
- Roughly 691 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.72 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- Kentucky has the 8th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $126 a year.