The utility bill is so large in the summer due to all the air conditioning that I’m sort of afraid to even open it.
When my friend, who is a native of this region, explained it, I was shocked by how purely logical it all sounded. I’m not from the south but have loved living here the last few years and plan to call this part of the country home for a long time. I love having traded the gas furnace and all that HVAC heating for a heat pump and mild winters. The winters are so mild in fact that it feels like the heat pump hardly has much to do in the winter. But that sure changes once about mid March arrives. That’s when the temperatures start rising and the place gets warm. Of course, all I could think to do in order to manage the level of heat and humidity was to add more HVAC cooling. Well, that is one way to go about dealing with the heat. Yet, it’s not a great solution ultimately. For one, just maxed out air conditioning is super expensive. The utility bill is so large in the summer due to all the air conditioning that I’m sort of afraid to even open it. Additionally, all that air conditioning makes it feel even hotter when you have to go outside. So when my local friend told me to not go for the air conditioning right away in the spring, it made sense. I just left the windows open this spring and enjoyed the fresh air. My body acclimated to the heat and I’m so much more comfortable with a thermostat setting in the low 80’s during the peak heating hours of the afternoon.