I’m a cheapskate who doesn’t like giving money to big utility companies, so I don’t use AC, only ceiling fans. But my house is built sensibly to allow that—super thick insulation, higher ceilings, and cross-ventilating windows that open at the top to let heat escape.
Heavily insulated drapes, and the ability to close off unused rooms retain warmth in winter. Closets and bathrooms situated around exterior walls provide additional insulation.
It’s possible to build a home to be cost-efficient. My electric bill is never above $50 month when temps are between 90-100F.
We keep our 1600sqft at 72 in the bed room and 76 in the other areas with a learning stat that precools before we get home and lets it warm up while we are gone but never above 85 our dog needs to be cool. With a splitzone system we used 2600kwhr last month and our bill was 152 bucks most of that was Oncor transmission fees and smart meter fee...Texas has cheap power and ours is at 3.6c kwhr actual usage on a 24mo contract liberal states pay out the rear for power regulation friendly Texas not so much. I would gladly spend over 400 a month not to sweat at night but no need when Texas is awash with cheap shale gas and power is half or a quarter of what silly Yankees pay.