Business air conditioning adds kilowatt-hours to the electricity meter it is wired to. You pay those units at the rate on the contract, plus the standing charge you pay anyway. Cooling is mostly a daytime load, so on a contract with a dearer day rate it often lands in that band. The cooling kilowatts on the brochure are not the electrical kilowatts on the bill. Ask for the input power, multiply by the hours you run, and multiply by the unit rate. This page is not a tariff.
The kettle and the split on the same meter
The meter records energy in kilowatt-hours. It does not record 'air conditioning' as a line unless you have a separate meter or a submeter on that circuit. On a single meter, the split is inside the total, next to lights, servers and the kettle.
Input kilowatts, hours and the contract rate
You pay input kilowatt-hours, not the cooling kilowatt figure. Ask the installer for the electrical input of the outdoor combination at the load you expect, and be honest about hours. A shop that cools ten hours a day, five days a week, is a different bill from a room cooled for two hours after lunch. Multiply input kilowatts by hours by the unit rate in pounds. These machines move more heat than the electricity they draw. Energy Saving Trust explains that air-to-air heat pump behaviour. It still will not tell you your supplier's pence per unit.
Day and night bands on a business supply
A standing charge is for having the supply. Running the split does not create it, and switching the split off does not remove it. Time-of-use or day and night business tariffs charge the units differently. Read the band that matches the hours you cool. Daytime cooling often hits the day rate.
Inspections, coils and the F-gas duty
A larger installation can fall under GOV.UK air conditioning inspection rules. Check that guidance for the current threshold and who must arrange the inspection. An inspection is not the electricity bill. It is a separate duty. F-gas duties sit with the operator and with the certified company that works on the circuit. Leaving a coil blocked makes the same room cost more units. It does not change the tariff.
The household price cap is not the business rate
Stop if the household price cap is being used as the business rate. Ofgem's price cap is a household reference. A business contract can sit elsewhere. Your contract is the price. Use the unit rate printed on it.
Frequently asked questions
Will air conditioning be a separate line on my business bill?
Only if it has its own meter. Otherwise it is part of the site's kilowatt-hours, charged at the unit rate for the time you run it.
Is the cooling kW what I pay for?
No. You pay for electrical input. Ask for that figure and multiply by hours and by the unit rate on the contract.
Core buying guides
Start with these high-intent guides, then dig into the rest of the library.
Related guides
Sources and further reading
How this guide was prepared
This guide was written by the Local AC Installers Editorial Team. We compare official guidance, legislation and established consumer information, separate general information from project-specific advice, and show publication dates and sources. We do not accept installer accreditation claims at face value.