Air conditioning unit costs

Considering 55% of your electric bill is fixed cost ‘’non consumption’’ it won’t make a great deal of difference. Try setting at 24 degrees plus a separate fan which use very little. 

I agree, 22 is very low and the unit will be working harder to achieve and then maintain it. Have you checked that it ever even gets there, you only need a thermometer placed out of any direct sunlight or airflow ?

Everyone's different of course but we're perfectly comfortable with the AC at 29 augmented with a lazy ceiling fan and two free standing oscillating fans in opposite corners of the room which make a really big difference for very little cost.

We have never kept any AC on overnight and in the bedroom just use a ceiling fan with open windows, if we wanted 22 we would need the AC but then we'd likely have to wrap up in our Winter duvets against the cold !

It so happens that I'm closely monitoring my living room AC at the moment and have found that once the room is down to 29 power consumption drops from a peak of around 1.4kW to around 470W and with the power for the fans adding about ~100W that's gives us the best part of two hours cooling for the cost of one unit of electricity.

I'm surprised at how much you're paying for consumption. We pay 15.5 cents high and 7.5 cents low.

22 degrees is unrealistic. I usually set the aircon low, let the room get to a comfortable temperature, then wind it up to 27 degrees and let it just tick over gently.

I'm guessing that doesn't include standing charges? 

Thanks everyone we tried aircon at 27 through the night with a tower fan and it felt pretty good. The fan made a big difference so we are considering a ceiling fan in the bedroom as the ac unit is in the lounge. We have an open plan arrangement which means we are trying to cool kitchen lounge and bedroom. Other rooms we can close off. Without the ac we have tried a fan all night and although we have mosquito nets on all windows and windows wide open our bedroom is at front of house and a street light blazes away all night so we have to push shutters together (leaving a slight gap for air flow)to block out light. 

We were confused about the high settingsthat are recommended here as the temp at night is only 25 but suggestions are to make ac unit setting at 29. I guess we are more used to the heat settings on UK thermostats so it's a strange one. I guess it has more to do with extracting water vapour from the air which would make the higher temp more comfortable?  We will give it a try though and see if we cant get a cheaper tariff. Thanks again all.