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Limiting AC Temperatures Is A Misguided Attempt at Solving A Real

India plans to standardize air conditioning temperatures between 20°C and 28°C to reduce power consumption, following findings that suggest a comfort range of 24-25°C. However, this approach is criticized as short-sighted, as it overlooks other factors affecting AC efficiency, such as the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) and humidity levels. Experts argue that improving energy efficiency standards and reducing taxes on high-efficiency ACs would be more effective solutions to manage the increasing power demand from air conditioners.

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3 views5 pages

Limiting AC Temperatures Is A Misguided Attempt at Solving A Real

India plans to standardize air conditioning temperatures between 20°C and 28°C to reduce power consumption, following findings that suggest a comfort range of 24-25°C. However, this approach is criticized as short-sighted, as it overlooks other factors affecting AC efficiency, such as the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) and humidity levels. Experts argue that improving energy efficiency standards and reducing taxes on high-efficiency ACs would be more effective solutions to manage the increasing power demand from air conditioners.

Uploaded by

HEMANTKADIAN
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Limiting AC temperatures is a misguided attempt at

solving a real problem

themorningcontext.com/yesterday/limiting-ac-temperatures-is-a-misguided-attempt-at-solving-a-real-problem

Sethu Pradeep June 12, 2025

Union minister Manohar Lak Khattar on Tuesday said that India will
experiment with standardization of AC temperatures, restricting them from
going below 20 degrees Celsius or above 28 degrees Celsius. This move is
aimed at reducing excessive power consumption.

"Regarding air conditioning standards, a new provision is being


implemented soon. The temperature standardisation for ACs will be set
between 20°C to 28°C, meaning we won't be able to cool below 20°C or
warm above 28°C. This is a first-of-its-kind experiment, aiming to
standardise temperature settings," said Khattar.

The move draws from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency finding that the
comfort range for AC temperatures is between 24 and 25 degrees Celsius
and increasing AC temperature by just 1 degree Celsius can save about 6%
of electricity consumption.

But there are many factors that affect the efficiency of air conditioners and
the thermostat temperature setting is only one of them. Putting a restriction
on thermostat temperature thus is a short-sighted move that doesn’t really
take into account other factors that affect AC efficiency.

AC popularity: Make no mistake, tackling the power consumption of air


conditioners in India is an important issue. A record 14 million air
conditioning units were sold in India last year. And that is expected to grow
even further due to a mix of increasing incomes, rising temperatures and
increasing affordability.

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Between 8% and 10% of the 300 million households in the country have an
air conditioner but that is expected to reach close to 50% by 2037. The
International Energy Agency predicts that India will have more than 1 billion
ACs in operation by 2050. The solution for increasing temperatures creates
another problem—a massive spike in power demand.

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The biggest source of new electricity demand in India is coming from air
conditioning, outpacing both transport and data centres. ACs account for
about a fifth of the peak electricity load and, in recent years, demand for
electricity has outpaced generation capacity. This means that power
shortages are projected to sharply increase during the hottest months of the
year.
Even if India’s electricity generation were to keep pace with the appetite for
ACs, it doesn’t change the fact that the electricity consumed by the
appliances would further exacerbate climate change, making the sweltering
summer months even more unbearable.

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In that context, it is easy to see the need to tackle ACs’ power consumption.
So the proposed cap on thermostat temperatures is a step in the right
direction, albeit a misguided one.

Actual efficiency: There is already an Indian standard that measures the


efficiency of air conditioners—ISEER or the Indian Seasonal Energy
Efficiency Ratio. It is the ratio between the total amount of heat that an AC
removes from indoor air annually to the amount of energy consumed by it
during the same period.

Essentially, an AC with a higher ISEER will consume less electricity to


provide a certain amount of cooling compared to an AC with a lower ISEER.
Setting a cap on lower ISEER ACs that can be sold would have made more
sense because an AC with a really high ISEER might actually consume less
energy while operating at 16 degrees Celsius than an AC with a low ISEER
operating at 20 degrees Celsius.
“Energy efficiency should be the key here and not temperature mandates,”
says Akhil Singhal, a senior associate at RMI, a nonprofit that focuses on
global energy systems.

In that sense, putting a hard cap on the thermostat temperature of air


conditioners will only give a false sense of efficiency while not necessarily
making the right changes.

A better parameter: Besides setting a minimum ISEER level for ACs sold
in the market, as Singhal mentions, there is also a case to be made for
energy efficiency standards to be improved to include another important
feature—dehumidification.

“We do not really require 20 degrees, people would feel comfortable at 24.
But you also need to look at dehumidification. Even if you set a temperature
of 20 or even 16, if the humidity is high, it might still feel hot, So that is
where the larger dissatisfaction of consumers comes into play. But right
now, ISEER does not take into account dehumidification. If you also account
for dehumidification as an efficiency parameter, the gains could be much
more tangible,” says Singhal.

All ACs dehumidify to a certain extent as a byproduct of cooling. But while


all ACs remove some moisture from the air as they cool, many don’t offer
features that prioritize dehumidification. But humidity significantly affects
how hot it feels and high humidity makes it feel warmer because it stops the
evaporation of sweat. So adding dehumidification as an efficiency
parameter could mean that people would feel a lot cooler even at higher
thermostat temperatures.

So limiting the minimum ISEER rating with which an AC can be sold and
creating an efficiency standard that takes into account dehumidification are
two steps that can go much further than a limit on thermostat temperature.
But there is a clear downside to both; it would mean that ACs could end up
being more expensive than they already are.

There is another potential solution—reducing the tax that needs to be paid


on the purchase of air conditioners as they get more efficient. Right now, air
conditioners are classified as luxury items and they fall under the highest
tax bracket of 28%. But considering the fact that parts of Delhi on Thursday
had conditions that made it feel like it was 52 degrees Celsius, it would be
hard to argue that an AC is a luxury and not a need.

What this high tax rate does is that it pushes consumers to buy cheaper
and, therefore, less efficient ACs. If instead, the tax on ACs was tied to
something like ISEER ratings, it could mean that more efficient ACs would
be cheaper and more affordable and accessible for customers.
“That is one of the key things that we have been trying to push for. Right
now, ACs are taxed at 28%. If you buy a 40,000 rupee machine, around
10,000 is just taxes that you pay on it. Even if it was reduced to 20%, it
could be a game changer,” says Singhal. “I am not saying you tax every AC
at a lower bracket but let’s say the super efficient ones, the five-star ones
have a lower tax on them.”

At the end of the day, it is very important that we tackle the huge expected
increase in power demand coming from ACs. But all three solutions that we
discussed here would take a better stab at the problem than arbitrarily
putting a limit on thermostat temperatures.

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