AC & Appliance Electricity Cost Calculator Sri Lanka

Calculate AC, fridge and fan electricity costs in Sri Lanka. Compare daily units, monthly CEB/LECO bill increases and inverter replacement savings.

What this tool helps you do

How much will your electricity bill go up after installing an AC? Estimate the extra cost in Sri Lankan rupees using your household’s usual CEB or LECO units and your appliance’s usage. Compare air conditioners, fridges, ceiling fans, lights and other household appliances, or see the bill saving from replacing an old appliance. One electricity unit means one kilowatt-hour (kWh).

Estimate an appliance's effect on your electricity bill

  1. Enter the household's usual units or current-period electricity charges, including SSCL but excluding arrears and penalties. Set the number of billing days and check any units inferred from a bill amount.
  2. Choose an appliance and select adding or replacing. For a replacement, the old appliance must already be included in your usual household consumption.
  3. Choose Power rating (W / kW) and enter hours used per day, or choose Energy used (kWh) and enter the total for one day, one year or a measured number of days. Set days used and quantity. Open optional power assumptions for inverter or cycling appliances; measured energy is not multiplied by hours again.
  4. Review the new household bill, extra cost or saving, energy changes and what-if scenarios. Adjust the assumptions to compare another usage pattern.

Assumptions, tariff sources and privacy

This browser-based estimate uses the displayed standard domestic tariff for the whole selected period, including fixed charges and SSCL. It does not model solar credits, time-of-use billing, historical tariff changes, arrears or penalties. Your entries are not uploaded or saved by this planner. Rated power and label energy are not guarantees of actual consumption. Scenario percentages are editable examples, not measured savings or a guaranteed range.

Watts, kW, kWh and electricity units: what should I enter?

Watts (W) and kilowatts (kW) describe power; 1,000 W = 1 kW. Energy in kWh = watts ÷ 1,000 × hours used × days used × quantity at that power. For example, 1.2 kW for eight hours a day over 30 days is 288 units. If a meter instead records a total of 1.2 kWh per day, 30 days uses 36 units. A daily energy total includes the time the appliance actually ran; it does not mean 24 hours of continuous operation.

AC electricity consumption and the monthly bill

For a constant electrical input of 1,200 W, eight hours a day for 30 days uses 288 kWh. An assumed average draw of 50% would instead use 144 kWh. These are arithmetic examples, not predictions for a particular AC. The extra rupee cost depends on your household's starting units because Sri Lankan domestic tariff bands and fixed charges can change. This planner calculates the whole bill before and after the appliance change.

Inverter AC versus non-inverter AC

An inverter adjusts compressor power to cooling demand; a non-inverter compressor cycles on and off. Neither should automatically be treated as drawing rated power every minute or saving a fixed percentage. Room heat, insulation, temperature settings and the appliance affect actual use. Enter the label's electrical input W or kW, not cooling capacity in BTU/h. Measured average power or representative kWh readings provide a better starting point for your own usage.

Replacing a fridge, AC or other appliance

When replacing an existing appliance, subtract its estimated energy from the usual household total before adding the new appliance. For example, if your usual use is 300 units, the old appliance uses 100 and its replacement uses 50, the new total is 250 units. Refrigerators are often easier to estimate from daily or annual kWh than by multiplying compressor wattage by 24 hours.

9000, 12000, 18000 or 24000 BTU AC electricity cost

BTU/h describes cooling capacity, not electricity consumed. A 12,000 BTU/h AC is commonly called 1 ton, 18,000 BTU/h is 1.5 ton and 24,000 BTU/h is 2 ton. Two ACs with the same capacity can draw different electrical power. For any size, enter input watts from the model’s label or measured kWh, then your hours and days of use. This calculator does not infer electricity consumption from BTU, tonnage or brand alone.

Fridge and freezer electricity consumption per day or month

For a fridge, freezer, single-door or double-door refrigerator, use its own measured energy or energy-label total. Choose the matching daily, annual or custom measurement period. For example, a label showing 365 kWh per year scales to 30 kWh over 30 days for one fridge. This is a calculation example, not a typical value for all fridges. Compressors cycle, so rated watts multiplied by 24 hours can misrepresent actual use.

Ceiling fan, pedestal fan and BLDC fan running cost

Select Fan and enter the wattage at the speed you use, hours per day and the number of fans. A hypothetical 60 W fan used eight hours daily for 30 days uses 14.4 units. To compare a ceiling or pedestal fan with a BLDC fan, choose Replace and enter each fan’s own power at comparable use. The saving is calculated from the difference in units and the household bill, not from a fixed advertising percentage.

TV, computer, washing machine, rice cooker and other appliances

Use the listed appliance types for LED bulbs, a TV, computer or laptop, washing machine, kettle, iron and water pump. Choose Custom appliance for a rice cooker, air fryer, oven or water heater. Enter minutes as a fraction of an hour: 15 minutes = 0.25 hours. For repeated cycles, add up the daily runtime or use measured daily kWh; for a washing machine reading per cycle, first multiply by the cycles used that day. Do not assume a thermostat-controlled appliance draws full power throughout its switched-on time.

Official tariff and appliance-energy guidance

Appliance electricity cost questions

How much does an AC cost to run for 8 hours a day in Sri Lanka?

Enter your AC’s input power or measured energy and your usual household units. At a constant 1.2 kW, eight hours daily for 30 days uses 288 kWh. Actual inverter or cycling use may differ. The calculator adds the estimated units to your household usage and shows the extra bill in rupees; there is no single monthly price for every home.

Can I compare AC use for 4, 8, 12 or 24 hours a day?

Yes. Change Hours per day while keeping power, days and quantity the same. Use 24 only for an appliance available for use throughout the day, with appropriate average-power or cycling assumptions. For measured daily kWh, enter that total directly; do not multiply it by the hours again.

Does 1 kWh mean one electricity unit on a CEB or LECO bill?

Yes. One kWh is one electricity unit. A 1,000 W appliance running at that power for one hour uses 1 kWh. A 1,000 W label is a power rating, not a promise that the appliance uses one unit every day.

Can I enter my electricity bill instead of units?

Yes. Enter the current-period electricity charge with SSCL and the correct billing days. The tool estimates the nearest whole-unit consumption and shows its reconstructed bill. Some amounts fall between tariff steps, so an exact conversion is not always possible. Correct the estimated units using your bill when available.

Does an inverter AC always save 50% electricity?

No fixed saving is assumed. The 50%, 75% and 100% scenarios describe average power relative to rated input; they are illustrative starting values, not claims about inverter savings. Change them or enter measured consumption. A 50% reduction in appliance energy also does not necessarily mean a 50% reduction in the household bill.

Why can one extra unit cause a large bill increase?

Crossing a domestic tariff boundary can change the fixed charge or reprice earlier units. The planner recalculates the complete household bill and highlights a boundary change rather than multiplying appliance units by a single flat rate.

Can I estimate several appliances together?

Yes. Add multiple appliances with separate quantities and schedules, including replacement entries. The tool combines their energy changes and applies the household tariff once, which avoids adding incompatible standalone appliance bills.

Can I convert appliance kWh directly to rupees?

The extra rupee cost is the estimated household bill after the change minus the bill before it. Enter your usual household units so the calculator can account for tariff bands, fixed charges and SSCL. Multiplying appliance kWh by one advertised unit price can miss a tariff-boundary change.

Can I compare an inverter fridge or AC with my old appliance?

Yes. Choose Replace an existing appliance and enter the old and new consumption separately. Your usual household units must already include the old appliance. The result shows the change in energy and estimated bill saving; it does not include purchase price, installation, repairs or a payback period.

Will using an AC only at night always make the bill cheaper?

Under the standard domestic tariff model used here, changing the clock time alone does not select a cheaper unit rate. Fewer hours or lower measured consumption can reduce the estimate. This tool does not calculate a separate time-of-use tariff; check your tariff category before comparing day and night prices.

Can this explain why my electricity bill is high?

It can compare the energy used by the appliances you enter and estimate the effect of replacing them. It cannot diagnose wiring faults, meter errors or unlisted loads. If an appliance is already part of your usual bill, use Replace to compare a change rather than adding the same consumption twice.