We recently received our electric bill for the month of June. It was doubled and then went up an additional 25%. To be explicit, for May our bill was $92.00 and the utilitiy company said we used 41.3 kwh per day. In June our bill is $252.00 and the company says we are using 100.5 per day.

Nothing in our usage changed over the two months. Because we have an old house and the second floor is difficult to cool down, we ran our central a.c. system 24/7 in May and 24/7 in June. The only thing that changed was the average temperature. According to our utility company, in May the average temp was 64 and in June it was 76.

The only thing we can figure is that our central air had to "work harder" to cool the house. But, going from 41 kwh to 100 khw a day seems excessive.

Do central air systems have to double and then go another 25% on their energy use for hot weather?

The more of a load on your system, the higher the amp draw. Does your unit ever shut off?

The answer depends on several things first a 12 degree temp increase is significant. Second the age and efficiency of your ac system Third how well your house is insulated. Your thermostat setting. All of these things play into the increases of usage. The first response you got about whether your ac shuts off is a good one. Does it? I will give you an example years ago I lived in a small mobile home in the southeastern U.S. (very hot in the summer) my power bill was about 250.00 a month in peak summer time heat that 250 bucks only covered cooling about 932 square ft. Now lets jump forward my current home is about 1800 square ft and even with higher electric rates my current summer bill is only about 165.00 and my kw usage dropped by about 20% post back and let us know what you think . GOOD LUCK,AC