What does a mini split (cooling) cost to run?

Run the numbers on your own use

Change any of these and the figures update. The defaults are the typical case described above; your rate is the input that moves the answer most.

Why this is lower than the number you will see elsewhere

Almost every published answer to this question multiplies the rating on the label by the hours the appliance is switched on. For a mini split (cooling) that gives 1,080 kWh a year, or $198.

Inverter-driven, so it modulates rather than cycling hard. The honest figure is average draw across the cooling day rather than a true on/off fraction.

The arithmetic, step by step

Nothing here is hidden, so you can check it or change it. Working in the order the formula runs:

1. 900 W — what it draws while it is actually drawing. This is the rating on the plate.
2. × 50% — the share of its in-service time it is really pulling that. Inverter-driven, so it modulates rather than cycling hard. The honest figure is average draw across the cooling day rather than a true on/off fraction.
   That gives 450 W averaged across the hours it is on.
3. × 10 hours a day × 120 days — A single 12,000 BTU head cooling one zone through a hot summer.
   450 × 10 × 120 ÷ 1,000 = 540 kWh a year.
4. + standby — 8 W for the other 14.0 hours a day, which is 13 kWh a year. People leave this out and it is not always small.
5. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
   553 kWh × 18.34¢ = $102 a year.

Change any assumption in the calculator above and every figure on this page moves with it. The two that matter most are your rate, which varies 4× across the country, and the hours — the duty cycle is a property of the appliance, but the hours are a property of you.

How sensitive is that number?

A single figure invites more confidence than it deserves. Here is the same appliance under assumptions either side of the default, so you can see how much of the answer is the appliance and how much is the guess about how you use it.

Everything else held at the default. The spread here is the honest error bar on the headline figure.

What it costs per hour, day and month

At 18.34¢ per kWh, the US residential average for June 2026.

The thing worth knowing

Modulating instead of cycling is where the efficiency comes from. A conventional system runs flat out and then stops, overshooting in both directions; an inverter unit runs slowly and continuously at the load the room actually needs, which is both more comfortable and considerably cheaper. It also means the nameplate figure describes a condition it rarely operates in.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this mini split (cooling) costs $292 a year in Hawaii and $73 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one mini split (cooling) for a year, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

Other heating and cooling costs

• Electric furnace

  $1,653 a year

  Whole-home resistance heating in a cold climate.

• Heat pump (heating)

  $423 a year

  Whole-home heating in a mixed climate.

• Central air conditioner

  $421 a year

  A 3-ton system in a hot-summer climate.

• Dehumidifier

  $228 a year

  A 50-pint unit holding a basement at 50% relative humidity.

• Electric baseboard heater

  $218 a year

  One 1,000 W baseboard unit in one room. Most homes have several.

• Heated towel rail

  $193 a year

  Left permanently on, which is how most of them are used.

Questions

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.

How every figure on this page is computed · Where the data comes from