But higher costs for air conditioning in the much hotter months. It's more expensive to cool a home than it is to heat it (I know this by comparing my utility bill difference between winter and summer).
Alan
I have air con. I installed it in the early 80s in hope of cont¡nuing to do darkroom work in Spain. That became untenable for other reasons than temperature, and I never use the unit anymore. I detest air con. for it makes the outside reality worse and stops one being able to adjust to it quickly. The same holds even more true in the car: I have 'climate' but much prefer an open window.
Some modern air con. units also double as heaters; they do run ultra expensively; is your unit one of the dual-purpose types?
The problem with electricity in Spain is that it has, historically, always been high-cost: you see this in the way that many shops, still, today, will keep the lights off until a customer walks in. Many people don't know this habit and assume shops are closed when they are not. I think something similar happens in rural France: my wife and I drove through France, mainly north/south and the reverse, many times, and it was always hard to spot a café or wherever that was obviously open for business. Everywhere looked both closed and deserted; secret France, indeed!
My electricity bill comes with a graph showing the usage per month. It is hugely higher in the winter months.
Rob
