The Cheapest Room Air Conditioners to Run

Certified room ACs ranked by lowest annual energy use on the standard 750-hour season.

The spread inside this top 20: 260–298 kWh/yr, or $48–$55 a year at the U.S. average rate. Ties are ordered alphabetically.

The Cheapest Room Air Conditioners to Run — certified annual kWh, priced at the US average rate
#	Model	Type	kWh/yr	$/yr (US avg)
1	Brothers 102372	—	260	$48
2	Midea MWEUWA-05CRFN8-BCN4	—	260	$48
3	Vissani VAW05V1KWT	—	260	$48
4	TCL T05WV9M	—	274	$50
5	TCL T05WV9MB	—	274	$50
6	TCL T05WV9R	—	274	$50
7	TCL T05WV9RB	—	274	$50
8	TCL W5WC72	—	274	$50
9	TCL W5WC72-B	—	274	$50
10	TCL W5WC72M	—	274	$50
11	TCL W5WC72M-B	—	274	$50
12	Midea MAW06S1KWT-Amost efficient	—	281	$52
13	Midea MAW06V1KYWT-Smost efficient	—	281	$52
14	LG LW6023IVSMmost efficient	—	290	$53
15	Midea MAW06U1QWTmost efficient	—	298	$55
16	Midea MAW06V1QWBL-Tmost efficient	—	298	$55
17	Midea MAW06V1QWTmost efficient	—	298	$55
18	Midea MAW06V1UBLmost efficient	—	298	$55
19	Midea MAW06V1UWTmost efficient	—	298	$55
20	Midea MWAUQB-06CRFN8-BCN11most efficient	—	298	$55

How this list is built: every entry comes straight from the ENERGY STAR certified-product dataset for room air conditioners (439 models), ordered by certified annual kWh. The certified annual kWh assumes 750 cooling hours per year (the DOE standard). In hot climates real usage can run well above that; in mild ones, below.

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