Everyday Life⏱ 5 min read
How Much Does It Actually Cost to Run Your Home Appliances?
Standing charges, unit rates, and appliance wattages explained. Here's how to calculate the exact cost of running any appliance — and which ones are actually worth worrying about.
Energy bills feel abstract until you know what's actually using your electricity. Here's how to calculate the running cost of any appliance and work out which changes actually make a difference.
The Formula
Cost per hour = Wattage ÷ 1,000 × Unit rate (p/kWh)
Unit rate in UK (2025): approximately 24–25p/kWh
Example: 2,000W kettle for 3 minutes:
Hours = 3 ÷ 60 = 0.05 hours
Cost = 2,000 ÷ 1,000 × 0.05 × 24p = 2.4p per boil
Common Appliance Costs
ApplianceTypical WattageCost to Run
Electric shower (10 min)9,000W~36p
Tumble dryer (1 cycle)2,500W avg~60p per cycle
Washing machine (40°C)~0.5 kWh/cycle~12p per cycle
Dishwasher (per cycle)~1.0 kWh/cycle~24p per cycle
Oven (1 hour)2,000W~48p
Air fryer (30 min)1,500W~18p
Microwave (5 min)800W~1.6p
Fridge-freezer (per day)~1.0 kWh/day~24p/day = £88/year
TV 55" (per hour)100–150W~2.5–3.5p/hour
LED bulb (per hour)9W~0.2p/hour
Old incandescent (per hr)60W~1.4p/hour
Gaming PC (per hour)300–500W~7–12p/hour
Phone charging (full charge)~0.012 kWh~0.3p
What's Actually Worth Worrying About
People obsess over phone chargers and LED lights. These are almost entirely irrelevant. The big three categories driving most household electricity bills are:
- Heating and hot water — space heating (especially electric) and hot water account for around 60% of energy use in most UK homes. This includes electric showers, immersion heaters, and electric radiators.
- Always-on appliances — fridge-freezers, routers, set-top boxes, and anything on standby consume continuously. A fridge-freezer at £88/year costs more than 9 months of daily TV watching.
- High-wattage appliances used regularly — tumble dryers, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines. Switching from hot to 40°C washes and air-drying instead of tumble drying saves £100–£200/year for an average household.
Standby Power: The Real Numbers
Standby mode typically uses 0.5–5W per device. At 5W for 20 hours/day: 0.005 × 20 × 365 × 24p = £8.76/year per device. Across 10 devices on standby: ~£87/year.
Not nothing — but not the crisis it's sometimes portrayed as. Switching off standby devices helps, but it's a secondary measure compared to the heating, tumble dryer, and shower decisions.
How to Find Your Appliance's Wattage
Check the label on the back or bottom of the appliance, or the original manual. If you can't find it, a smart plug with energy monitoring (£10–15 from most hardware stores) will give you the real-world consumption — which can be quite different from the rated wattage, especially for appliances like fridges that cycle on and off.