Summer Utility Costs in Tempe: What ASU Students Actually Pay to Cool an Apartment

Cooling an apartment in Tempe costs ASU students roughly $110 to $250 a month from June through September, and cooling alone accounts for 50 to 60 percent of a July electric bill. The average Tempe residential electric bill runs about $243 a month in peak summer. That is the number most students miss when they compare rent on two listings and assume the cheaper one wins.

Key Takeaways

• June through September electric bills in Tempe typically land between $110 and $250 for a student apartment, depending on unit size, roommate count and how old the AC is.
• Cooling is 50 to 60 percent of a July bill. Everything else you plug in is a rounding error next to the air conditioner.
• Tempe City Code Sec. 21-34 requires every rental to cool all habitable rooms to no warmer than 82°F with air conditioning, or 88°F with an evaporative cooler.
• Under Arizona law, air conditioning is an "essential service." Written notice starts a five-day repair clock when heat is a health risk, ten days when it isn't.
• "Utilities included" almost always means water, sewer and trash. Electricity is usually yours.
• A 12-month lease means you pay for four Phoenix summer months whether you're in Tempe or back home in June.

What a Tempe summer electric bill actually costs an ASU student

Budget $110 to $250 a month for electricity between June and September. A shared four-bedroom split four ways lands near the bottom of that range per person. A solo one-bedroom with a west-facing wall and a fifteen-year-old condenser lands at the top, sometimes past it.

Across all Tempe residential customers, the average monthly electric bill sits around $243, and a typical July bill runs about $220. Both APS and SRP serve Tempe, and which one you get depends on the block your building sits on, not on anything you choose. You don't get to shop for a cheaper provider.

Here's the part that matters more than the average: your October bill and your July bill are barely the same product. Shoulder months in Tempe can run under $70. Then July arrives and the same apartment triples. If you budget off a lease signed in February, you are budgeting off a number that does not exist in summer.

Why west-facing bedrooms cost more than east-facing ones

A west-facing bedroom absorbs afternoon sun during the hottest hours of a Phoenix day, and the AC fights that heat until well after sunset. Students in identical floor plans at the same complex regularly report bill gaps of $30 to $50 a month based on nothing but orientation. Ask which way your unit faces during the tour. It's a fifteen-second question that nobody thinks to ask in February, when it's 72 degrees and lovely.

Tempe's rental code sets a hard ceiling at 82 degrees

Tempe City Code Sec. 21-34 requires every rental housing unit to have cooling under the tenant's control capable of cooling all habitable rooms, bathrooms and toilet rooms to no greater than 82°F if the unit uses air conditioning, or 88°F if it uses evaporative cooling. The city measures three feet above the floor, in the center of the room. That measurement rule matters, because "it's cool near the vent" is not the standard.

Note the split. Evaporative coolers, still common in older Tempe rentals, get a six-degree wider allowance. If you tour a place with a swamp cooler on the roof instead of a condenser unit, you are legally allowed to be six degrees hotter, and swamp coolers lose most of their effectiveness during monsoon humidity in July and August. That combination is the single worst summer setup you can sign into near campus.

If your apartment can't hit the code ceiling, that's a code violation, and Tempe's code compliance office takes reports at 480-350-4311.

What Arizona law says when your AC breaks in August

Air conditioning counts as an "essential service" under the Arizona Landlord Tenant Act (A.R.S. § 33-1301 through 33-1381). That designation is what gives you leverage, and most students never learn it exists.

Put your notice in writing. A phone call is fine to start, but the written notice is what starts the clock. Per guidance from the Arizona Attorney General's Office, your landlord has five days to fix a broken AC when temperatures create a health and safety risk, and ten days when they don't. In a Tempe August, you are almost always in the five-day bucket.

If the landlord blows the deadline, Arizona's self-help repair statute may let you buy a portable AC or window unit and deduct the cost from rent, provided you follow the written-notice requirements exactly. A landlord also cannot shut off your cooling over late rent — A.R.S. § 33-1374 prohibits it outright. Not "frowns on." Prohibits.

Keep every text and email. Students who lose these disputes usually lose them on documentation, not on the law.

"Utilities included" rarely includes the expensive one

When a Tempe leasing office says utilities are included, they almost always mean water, sewer and trash. Electricity — the entire ballgame in a desert summer — is usually billed to you separately. Some purpose-built student towers do bundle electricity, and a few advertise it as unlimited.

Others use a capped allowance: the package covers electricity up to a set dollar amount or kilowatt threshold, and you're billed for the overage. In shoulder months you'll never touch the cap. In July you might blow through it. Ask for the cap in writing and ask what the overage rate is, because a cap without a stated overage rate is not a real answer.

Ask for twelve months of actual bill history for the specific unit. Not the building average. Real numbers. A property manager who won't produce them has told you something useful.

Compare on the all-in monthly number, not the rent

Two Tempe units can list within $40 of each other and differ by $150 a month once summer electricity lands. Paseo On University, a 17-minute walk from campus, lists from $1,018. A newer building with better insulation and a modern condenser might list higher and still cost you less across a twelve-month lease. Student reviews on the Find My Place ASU listings page are often where the AC complaints surface before you ever sign.

The summer months you pay for whether you're here or not

Most Tempe student leases run twelve months, not nine. So if you go home to San Diego or Chicago for the summer, you're still paying rent and still paying a base electric bill on an apartment nobody's living in.

You have three real options. Sublet it, if your lease allows subletting — read that clause before you sign, not in April. Set the thermostat to 85°F rather than shutting the AC off entirely, because a fully unconditioned Tempe apartment in July can damage furniture, electronics and drywall. Or find a nine-month lease, which exist near campus but are rarer and priced higher per month.

Running the numbers on the whole year rather than the school year is the honest way to compare ASU off-campus housing costs against a dorm contract that ends in May.

Frequently Asked Questions About Summer Utility Costs Near ASU

How much should I budget for electricity in a Tempe apartment?

$110 to $250 a month in summer, and $60 to $100 the rest of the year. Split across three or four roommates, the summer number drops to roughly $35 to $70 each. Budget for the July version, not the average — the average will lie to you twice a year in opposite directions.

Is 78 degrees really the cheapest thermostat setting?

78°F is the common advice and it's reasonable, but the bigger lever is not changing the setting constantly. Every degree cooler adds meaningfully to the bill in a 110-degree afternoon. Pick a number you can live with, leave it there, and close the blinds on any west-facing window by early afternoon.

Can my landlord charge me for a broken AC unit's higher bills?

No. If the cooling system fails to meet Tempe's 82°F standard because of a maintenance problem, that's the landlord's obligation to fix, not a cost to pass to you. Document the indoor temperature with a photo of a thermometer three feet off the floor and send it in writing.

What's the difference between an evaporative cooler and air conditioning here?

Evaporative coolers add moisture to cool the air, which works well in Tempe's dry heat and poorly during July and August monsoon humidity. They're cheaper to run. Tempe's code also allows them to leave your apartment six degrees warmer, at 88°F versus 82°F. If you tour a place with one, ask specifically how it performs in August.

Who provides electricity in Tempe, APS or SRP?

Both operate in Tempe, and the answer depends on your building's location rather than your preference. You can't switch. Ask the leasing office which provider serves the property so you can look up that provider's current rate plans before you sign.