AC Guide · Running cost

How many units does a 1.5 ton AC use?

By the Citi Cool engineering team. Updated 2026-10-17. Sources: Daikin BEE labels, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the Ministry of Power and the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The short answer

• Label average: 0.42–0.63 units an hour. From each 1.5 ton AC's BEE label: the FTKU50 least, the GTQ50 most.¹²
• At full power: 1.27–1.65 units an hour. 230 V × Daikin's rated current. A hot top-floor afternoon runs near this.⁶
• Your room decides: 0.30–1.41 units an hour. The GTKL50 in a Delhi middle-floor bedroom at night, and in a top-floor room on the hottest afternoon.¹³
• Colder setting: +6% per °C. Each 1°C lower uses about 6% more electricity, says the Ministry of Power.⁹

Your room, hour by hour

The units depend on how hard the AC has to work. The room check on this page plays the day through the hours you use the AC, for your city, room, floor, window and setting, with the units each 1.5 ton AC uses. Two rooms, worked out:

Middle-floor bedroom, at night: 12 × 12 ft, Delhi, set to 24°C, 10 pm–6 am

In your 8 hours the GTQ50 uses 2.8 units, the GTKL50 2.4 and the FTKU50 1.8. Their BEE label averages would say 5.0, 4.4 and 3.4 units.¹³

Top-floor room, afternoons, hottest day: 12 × 12 ft, Delhi, set to 24°C, 12–6 pm

In your 6 hours the GTQ50 uses 7.4 units, the GTKL50 8.4 and the FTKU50 5.9. Their BEE label averages would say 3.8, 3.3 and 2.5 units. Here the GTQ50 is flat out for 2 of your 6 hours, the GTKL50 for 3 and the FTKU50 for none: flat out, an AC draws its full power every minute of the hour. A 1.8 ton AC would hold 24°C through all of them.¹³

The room's heat each hour comes from Daikin's heat-load method, the one our AC calculator uses, with the sun and the heat stored in walls and roof following the day.¹³ Outside temperatures run between the city's IMD figures for its hottest month.⁷ What each AC can give: rated cooling up to its series' full-capacity temperature, then 5% less per °C.⁸ Full power is 230 V × Daikin's rated operating current: GTQ50 5.8 A, GTKL50 7.17 A, FTKU50 5.51 A.⁶ Turned well down, an inverter's efficiency is taken as its ISEER.²

The label averages, by size

The live meter on this page counts the units each Daikin AC uses over an hour, a day, a month or a summer, from its own BEE star label, and shows the sum step by step: units a year on the label ÷ 1,600 hours × your hours × your rate.¹²

Why the label number is an average

The units a year on a BEE star label are for 1,600 hours of cooling, spread over outside temperatures from 24°C to 43°C. Divide by 1,600 and you get the average hour.²³

Most of those hours are milder than a Delhi afternoon. An inverter turns itself down on mild hours and up on hot ones: Daikin's GTKC50 runs anywhere from 1.5 to 5.3 kW of cooling. A non-inverter runs at full power or switches off. So a hot afternoon uses more than the average hour, and a mild night less.⁴⁵

So your own room can be far from the label. A middle-floor bedroom at night may use half the label's average hour. A top-floor room on a 45°C afternoon can keep a 1.5 ton flat out, drawing its full power every minute. The room check above works out yours.¹³

69% of BEE's 1,600 hours are at 30°C or cooler outside; 30 hours a year are at 40°C or hotter.³ See it hour by hour in our inverter vs non-inverter guide.

What a colder setting costs

Each 1°C higher saves about 6% of an AC's electricity, and BEE recommends 24 to 26°C, says the Ministry of Power.⁹ 24°C has been the default on every star-labelled AC since 2020.¹⁰ For the GTKL50 at 8 hours a day, taking its label figure as the month at 24°C:

What an AC adds to a Delhi bill

Delhi's domestic energy charges by slab: ₹3 a unit up to 200 units a month, ₹4.50 up to 400, ₹6.50 up to 800, ₹7 up to 1,200 and ₹8 above.¹² An AC's units come on top of everything else in the home, so they land in the dearer slabs. The tool on this page works it out for your home. For the GTKL50 at 8 hours a day (132 units a month):

Energy charges only: a bill also has fixed charges, surcharges and taxes, and any subsidy is not counted here.

Units by size and star rating

Every Daikin split AC we sell, from its BEE label. A month is 8 hours a day for 30 days, at ₹8 a unit.¹¹⁴

Five ways to use fewer units

1. Set 24 to 26°C. That is what BEE recommends, and 24°C is the default on every star-labelled AC. Moving from 20°C to 24°C saves about 24% of the AC's electricity.⁹¹⁰
2. Clean the air filters every two weeks. Daikin says a clogged filter cuts the airflow and the cooling.¹¹
3. Close windows and doors, and draw the curtains while the AC runs.¹¹
4. Get the size right. Sized for your city's hottest afternoon, an AC is not left running flat out to keep up. Our AC calculator does this with Daikin's heat-load method.¹³
5. Running it long hours? Pick a more efficient AC. On the labels, a 1.5 ton 5 Star uses about a third fewer units than the non-inverter.¹

Questions people ask

How many units does a 1.5 ton AC use in 1 hour?

On Daikin's BEE labels, 0.42 to 0.63 units an hour on average: the FTKU50 5 Star inverter 0.42, the GTKL50 3 Star inverter 0.55, the GTQ50 non-inverter 0.63. That average covers BEE's whole 1,600-hour year, so a hot afternoon uses more and a mild night less.¹²

How many units does a 1.5 ton AC use in a day?

At 8 hours a day, 3.4 to 5.0 units. Run round the clock, 10.2 to 15.0 units, at the label's average.¹

How many units does a 1.5 ton AC use in a month?

At 8 hours a day for 30 days, about 102 to 150 units, which is ₹815 to ₹1,203 at ₹8 a unit.¹

How many units does a 1.5 ton AC use at full power?

Daikin rates each AC's operating current at full power: the GTQ50 5.8 A, the GTKL50 7.17 A, the FTKU50 5.51 A. At 230 V that is roughly 1.33, 1.65, 1.27 units an hour. An AC runs at full power when it is pulling a hot room down, or when the room needs more than it can give.⁶

Why does a top-floor room use so many more units?

The sun on the roof keeps heating the room, so the AC works harder and for longer. In our room check, a 12 × 12 ft bedroom in Delhi used 12 to 6 pm on the hottest day of an average year comes to GTQ50 7.4, GTKL50 8.4, FTKU50 5.9 units across those 6 hours on a top floor, with some ACs flat out. The same room on a middle floor, used 10 pm to 6 am on a typical hot-month day: GTQ50 2.8, GTKL50 2.4, FTKU50 1.8 units across 8 hours.¹³

How many units does a 1 ton AC use?

Daikin's 1 ton ACs use 0.30 to 0.42 units an hour on their BEE labels: GTKM35 5 Star inverter 0.30, JTKJ35 5 Star inverter 0.30, GTKC35 3 Star inverter 0.39, GTKL35 3 Star inverter 0.39, GTQ35 non-inverter 0.42.¹

How many units does a 1.8 or 2 ton AC use?

On the labels: GTKM60 (1.8 ton, 5 Star inverter) 0.51, JTKJ60 (1.8 ton, 5 Star inverter) 0.51, GTKL60 (1.8 ton, 3 Star inverter) 0.66, GTKL71 (2 ton, 3 Star inverter) 0.77 units an hour.¹

Does an inverter AC use fewer units?

Yes, on the labels. The 1.5 ton GTQ50 non-inverter is rated at 1,002 units a year, the GTKL50 3 Star inverter at 880 and the FTKU50 5 Star at 679. Our inverter vs non-inverter guide works out which one pays for your hours.¹

Why does my AC use more units than the label says?

The label averages BEE's whole year, and a Delhi summer afternoon is hotter than most of it. A top floor or a big room can keep a 1.5 ton flat out, drawing its full power. A colder setting adds about 6% for each °C below where you would otherwise set it. A dirty filter cuts the airflow and the cooling.³⁹¹¹¹³

Why work it out at ₹8 a unit?

In Delhi, each slab of a home's monthly units is charged at a higher rate, from ₹3 a unit for the first 200 to ₹8 a unit above 1,200. An AC's units come on top of everything else in the home, so they are charged at the top slabs the home reaches. The bill tool on this page works it out for your own home.¹²

What temperature should I set to save units?

BEE recommends 24 to 26°C, and 24°C is the default on every star-labelled AC sold since 2020. Each 1°C higher saves about 6% of the AC's electricity.⁹¹⁰

Sources

1. BEE star label figures from the Daikin RA Master Catalogue 2026, shown on each product page (Daikin)
2. Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio: how BEE rates an AC over 1,600 hours a year (Vikaspedia, Government of India)
3. Star labelling schedule: the ISEER method and the national bin-hour table (Bureau of Energy Efficiency)
4. GTKC50 3 Star inverter: rated 5.0 kW, cooling range 1.5 to 5.3 kW, ISEER 4.40, 880.1 units a year (Daikin India)
5. Inverter Technology (Daikin India)
6. Each model's page: rated operating current and cooling range (GTQ50 5.8 A; GTKL50 and GTKC50 7.17 A; FTKU50 5.51 A) (Daikin India)
7. Climate normals for each city, as used in our AC calculator (India Meteorological Department)
8. Daikin's full-cooling temperature for each series, and our 5%-per-°C rule above it, as used in our AC calculator (Daikin · Citi Cool engineering)
9. Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 2613 on energy efficiency, 27 December 2018 (Ministry of Power)
10. BEE notifies new energy performance standards for air conditioners (24°C default), 6 January 2020 (PIB, Ministry of Power)
11. Product Care: clean the air filters every two weeks, close windows and doors, draw the curtains (Daikin India)
12. Electricity tariff schedule, domestic energy charges by slab (FY 2019-20) (Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission)
13. Our AC calculator: Daikin's heat-load method, sized for your city's hottest afternoon (Citi Cool engineering)
14. Daikin AC prices and stock today (citicool.in)

More AC questions, answered

• Which ton AC does my room need?: Sized for your city's hottest day, with the right AC from stock.
• Inverter vs non-inverter AC: which one should you buy?: Check whether an inverter saves anything in your own room, work out your 5-year cost, and check cooling in Delhi heat.
• What is the difference between an inverter and a non-inverter AC?: Watch both compressors cool a room, see what "inverter" means, and what is different inside, from Daikin's own specs.
• Coming next: 3 Star or 5 Star: is 5 Star worth it?
• Coming next: What temperature should I set my AC to?
• Coming next: VRV or split ACs for a whole home?
• Coming next: How often should an AC be serviced?

Want an AC that costs less to run? Call sales on 77039 00307, or book a ₹99 video call with an engineer, adjusted against your order.