A 1.5 ton 5-star inverter AC running 8 hours a day costs roughly ₹1,750/month at ₹7 per unit; a 3-ton US central system at SEER2 14.3 costs about $103/month at $0.17/kWh. Adjust everything below for your unit and tariff.
ISEER values follow BEE inverter-AC star bands — verify against the current BEE table for the model year you're buying.
| Power draw | — |
| Monthly energy | — |
| Season cost | — |
What the same tonnage costs to run at each real US market tier, using your hours and rate above. Whether the premium tier pays back depends on the installed-price difference in the quote in front of you — typically $1,500–$4,000 between builder grade and variable-speed.
| Tier | SEER2 | Monthly | Season | Season savings vs Good |
|---|
Tiers reflect the actual market: US — SEER2 14.3 federal-minimum single-stage, 17 mid two-stage, 21 premium variable-speed. India — current BEE inverter bands (verify against the latest BEE table). Running costs only; equipment and install prices vary too much by region to estimate honestly here.
The two inputs people guess wrong are tonnage and hours. If you don't know the unit's size, decode it from the outdoor unit's label with the model number lookup, or calculate what the room actually needs with the tonnage calculator — an oversized unit inflates bills 10–25% through stop-start running. Hours mean compressor-active hours, not hours switched on: an inverter idling at part load through the night is far cheaper than the same hours on a fixed-speed unit, which is exactly the gap the tier table above prices. Your rate or tariff comes off the electricity bill — use the marginal (top-slab) rate, not the average, since AC usage lands on top of everything else.