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The Rising Cost of Air Con (and How to Stop It!)

If you own a holiday home we are sure you don’t need Panoramic to tell you that one of the major escalating costs of Holiday Rental in any country is the price of electricity

As we know we are also in a market where the current trend from holiday renters is to choose a property they can’t actually afford and then attempt to convince us that the rates should be discounted down to fit their budget.

Fact is we are having to be flexible on rental prices at a time when the fixed costs particularly electricity have risen to staggering levels.

Leaving the actual electricity price aside, which we can do little about, the major contributor to escalating electricity costs is the usage of air conditioning.

A percentage of clients do believe they can arrive on holiday switch on the air con and literally leave it on until they go home.  If they go out for the day, it makes no difference; they still leave the air con running so it’s nice and cool for when they get back.  No need for a fridge in the house, the rooms are cold enough anyway!

We at Panoramic in our own villas on the Costa Del Sol have just fitted small restrictor boxes in the line of the wiring to each air conditioning unit.  These small boxes have only 4 push button settings nothing more, they allow the holiday maker to set the Air Conditioning to run for either 15 minutes1 hour2 hours and Off. After pressing any of the aforementioned time settings the units will run for the specified time and then shut off, until pressed again.

As such it is impossible for clients to go out all day and leave the units running, it is also not possible for them to leave the units running all night.

There is no need for a hand held remote control to be left in the room as the air con can be set for example to say 22 degrees and then taken away. When switched on via the buttons it will always cool/heat to the specified temperature until you (the owner/rep) set differently .

We have paid 70 Euros per unit to fit these small restrictors to the villas we own on the Costa Del Sol.  The normal cost per unit for fitting is 95 Euros.  The 70 Euros price is agreed for Panoramic customers.

Below are the details of the technician: –

AC CONTROL

JOHN LINCOLN

TEL 0034 952196078./.MOBILE 0034 630424858

EMAIL info@accontrolspain.com

We cannot guarantee the price mentioned can be matched exactly, this obviously depends on travel time/location and number of units required, but this provides a bench mark on cost.  We promise we are not on commission!

Whilst fitting is not a work of genius it does require some electrical knowledge and we would not recommend DIY installation. We found John and his team to be neat, tidy, professional and safe.

For those of you not based in the Costa del Sol we have done some research and these devices can be sourced from the UK, we will be taking these to the villas we have based in other countries.

Please see the below link for an alternative supplier for you to consider:

HORSTMANN ELECTRISAVER E30 ELECT TIMER

Panoramic consider these little boxes to be the future, we are now monitoring customers reaction and of course effectiveness. This system will allow you to reduce your overheads which in turn will ensure you stay competitive on price.

We hope you find our input on this useful. It is important to us here at Panoramic that you see our contribution not just in bookings but also in making holiday home rental as easy and as hassle free as possible.

Best Regards.. The Panoramic Team

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