Nearly Half of Homeowners Would Skip Dining Out to Cover A/C Bills. There's a Better Trade to Make.
By
Felix Remennik
A new survey from SupplyHouse, covered by ACHR News, puts numbers on something many households already feel: summer cooling has become a real budget line. More than three in four homeowners say energy bills are causing financial stress, and the average expected summer utility bill is $221 per month.
The coping strategies are familiar. According to the survey of 1,000 homeowners, 46% are running fans instead of the A/C, 46% are raising the thermostat past their comfort point, and 48% say they would cut dining out if cooling costs climb higher. Some 15% plan to sleep in uncomfortable heat rather than run the A/C overnight.
The real problem isn't the A/C. It's when it runs.
Here's what the survey doesn't say: most homeowners are paying peak prices for the electricity that cools their homes, because the hottest hours of the day are also the most expensive hours on the grid. Cutting comfort is one way to cut the bill. Changing when you buy electricity is a better one.
That's what the Harvest Pod is built to do. Its thermal battery stores heat energy when electricity is cheapest, and its automatic energy scheduling shifts your home's heating, cooling, and hot water load to off-peak hours without you touching a thermostat. No app-checking, no rate-plan spreadsheets, no sweating through the night to save a few dollars. Households using this load-shifting approach typically see 20 to 40% lower monthly energy bills, and comfort stays exactly where you set it.
Upfront cost is the other barrier, and it's removable.
The survey also found that 43% of homeowners have delayed HVAC repairs, and the top reason, cited by 35%, was that upfront costs are too high. That barrier is exactly why Harvest offers the Pod through a $0-down lease: whole-home heating, cooling, and hot water in one integrated system, with commercial clean energy tax credits flowing through the lease to lower your monthly payment. Bundling heating, hot water, and cooling can also unlock up to $7,000 in combined rebates, depending on your location.
Skipping dinner out to keep the house livable is a trade nobody should have to make. A system that buys its own electricity at the cheapest hours makes it a trade you don't have to.
Source: ACHR News, "Survey: Homeowners are Ready To Skip Dining Out To Pay for Summer A/C Bills", July 6, 2026
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