Almost £50m Spent Keeping Brits Cool

Britons are spending nearly £50 million on air conditioning and fans to try and keep cool during the hot summer months, according to new figures.

With soaring temperatures, people are turning to household appliances to regulate the temperature inside and the cost of running them totals around £48.2 million, price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com claims.

Over 370,000 British households own an air conditioning unit in their homes and they are left on for an average of four and half hours each day costing £38.42 in electricity from May to September.

Some 9.2 million own at least one portable fan, although the cost of leaving them running for the average time of four and half hours is less at just £5.91 during the summer months.

"With temperatures reaching great heights it seems that a new phenomenon may be just around the corner with electricity bills rising as Brits try to make the temperature indoors more bearable," said Paul Schofield from moneysupermarket.com.

"Indeed the cost of running these appliances are just the tip of the iceberg and if summers do continue to get hotter and more Brits invest in air conditioning units and fans the effect on the environment could be considerable."