Weather and season length
A hotter or longer cooling stretch increases runtime directly. Compare year over year, not month to month.
Energy & cost
Why Is My AC Bill So High in Louisiana?
Cooling is usually the largest single electrical load in a Southeast Louisiana home during summer, so a bill increase is often a runtime increase in disguise. The useful question is what changed: the weather, the house, the equipment, the rate, or how much conditioned air is reaching the rooms.
Before assuming a fault, compare the bill to the same month last year rather than to last month, and check whether the billing period covered more days or a hotter stretch. Utilities publish usage history that makes this straightforward.
If usage rose without a matching weather or occupancy explanation, the causes below are the ones worth working through.
Reviewed by Duct Daddy
Written and reviewed by the Duct Daddy team, a duct leakage testing and duct sealing specialist serving Southeast Louisiana. This article is general guidance, not a diagnosis of your system.
What drives a high cooling bill
Thermostat settings and habits
A lower setpoint, a changed schedule, more people home during the day, or a fan left in ON all raise consumption.
Rate and usage changes
Rate adjustments, fuel-cost riders and billing-period length change the bill without changing the house. Check the usage figure, not just the dollar figure.
Equipment condition
A dirty coil, a restricted filter or a system operating below its rated performance costs more runtime for the same result.
Insulation levels
Attic insulation that is thin, compressed or displaced lets heat in continuously through the hottest part of the day.
Air infiltration through the house
Gaps at the attic plane, around penetrations, and at doors and windows admit hot humid air the system then has to condition.
Duct leakage
Conditioned air lost into an attic or crawlspace is paid for and never used. Return leakage adds outdoor-condition air to the load. Both increase runtime for the same indoor result.
Other household loads
Pool pumps, second refrigerators, electric water heating, EV charging and dehumidifiers can account for meaningful increases that have nothing to do with the HVAC system.
What you can safely check yourself
- Pull up your utility usage history and compare kWh year over year, not month to month.
- Check the number of days in the billing period.
- Check the filter and replace it if dirty.
- Confirm the thermostat schedule matches how the house is actually occupied.
- List any new large loads added since last summer.
When to call a licensed HVAC service technician
Duct Daddy specialises in duct leakage testing and duct sealing. We do not perform mechanical HVAC repair, refrigerant work or equipment replacement. Contact a qualified HVAC contractor if any of the following apply:
- Usage jumped sharply with no weather, occupancy or equipment explanation.
- The system's behaviour changed at the same time as the bill.
- You suspect an electrical problem rather than a cooling problem.
The part that can be measured
Most items on this list are assessed by judgement. Duct leakage is different: it is quantified with a pressure test, before and after any work.
Duct Daddy does not promise a specific percentage reduction in your bill, and you should be sceptical of anyone who does — actual cost depends on your duct system, equipment, home construction, thermostat habits, weather and utility rates. What we document is the measured change in duct leakage.
Reducing leakage means less of the air you paid to condition is delivered somewhere you do not live. Whether that shows up as comfort, runtime or cost depends on the house.
More detail on the process: how air duct sealing works and how leakage is measured and verified.
Why this matters in Southeast Louisiana
Louisiana's cooling season is long enough that a duct system losing air is losing it across a large share of the year.
Attic temperatures in the region routinely far exceed outdoor air temperature, which is why leakage location matters as much as leakage volume.
See the communities we serve.
Get a measured number instead of a theory
A duct leakage evaluation tells you how much air your duct system is losing, before and after any work.
Related guides
AC runs all day
Long runtimes are not automatically a fault — here is how to tell the difference between working hard and losing air.
One room stays hot
A single bedroom or upstairs room that never keeps up with the rest of the house — and what actually causes it.
Ducts sweating or dripping
Condensation on attic ducts, boots and registers — what causes it and which repairs actually address it.
Browse every guide in the comfort guide.
Sources & further reading
Find out what your duct system is actually doing.
Schedule a duct leakage evaluation and get measured numbers for your home — not a guess.