Cost of using household appliances

Millions of UK households are facing an energy crisis. The steep increases in the cost of electricity mean that it's more important than ever to find savings.

You might be worried about whether you can afford to use some of your household appliances. Some use a lot of electricity – others don’t. The largest proportion of most households’ electricity bill comes from running appliances like washing machines, dishwashers and electric showers.

These figures come from the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

Download their leaflet here: What uses watt?

You can find all their energy advice leaflets at www.cse.org.uk/advice-leaflets

Costs of running a range of common appliances

Based on a unit price for electricity of 34p per kWh (the price cap after 1 October 2022)

Appliance (with typical power rating*) Cost per hour** Cost per 10 mins

Electric shower (9000 W) £3.06 51p
Immersion heater (3000 W) £1.02 –
Kettle (3000 W) – 17p
Tumble Dryer (2500 W) 85p 14p
Electric heaters (2500 W) 85p 14p
Oven (2100 W)*** 71p –
Washing machine (2100 W) 71p
Oil-filled radiator (2000 W) 68p 11p
Hairdryer (2000 W) – 11p
Hob (2000 W) 61p 11p
Grill (1500 W) 51p 9p
Iron (1500 W) 51p 9p
Toaster (1000 W) – 6p
Microwave (1000 W) 34p 6p
Electric mower (1000 W) 34p 6p
Vacuum cleaner (900 W) 31p 5p
Dehumidifier (500 W) 17p –
Towel rail (450 W) 15p –
Plasma TV (350 W) 12p 2p
Fridge-freezer (300 W)*** 10p

Freezer (150 W)*** 5p –
Fridge (150 W)*** 5p –
Heating blanket (150 W) 5p 1p
Desktop computer (140 W) 5p 1p
Games console (120 W) 4p 1p
LCD TV (120 W) 4p 1p
Laptop (50 W) 2p –
TV box (40 W) 1p –
DVD player (40 W) 1p –
Extractor fan (20 W) 1p –
Broadband router (10 W) 1p –

* We’ve taken an average power rating for each appliance; the actual power rating will depend on the size and specifications of the appliance. So the cost of running, say, your microwave, could be less than the figure given, or more.
** For some appliances we’ve only listed the cost for either an hour (column 2) or 10 minutes (column 3).
*** Appliances like ovens, fridges and freezers turn themselves off when they reach the required temperature, so for some of the time that they’re in use they won’t be using much or any electricity. So the daily cost of running a fridge or freezer is not 24 x the hourly cost.