New Delhi, May 15 -- I've been covering home appliances and consumer tech for years, and every summer, one complaint keeps coming up: "Why is my AC bill suddenly so high?"

Last summer, I noticed the same thing at my place. My AC was running longer than usual, cooling felt inconsistent, and my electricity bill was much higher than expected. At first, I thought the issue was the heatwave or maybe my AC getting old. But after speaking with service technicians and spending some time checking the unit myself, I realised most of the problem came down to basic maintenance habits that many of us ignore.

The surprising part? None of the fixes were expensive.

Here are the simple things that actually made a noticeable difference for me.

In India...