Appliance Running Cost Calculator

Watts ÷ 1,000 × hours of use × your utility rate per kWh. A 2,000 W heater running 4 hours a day uses 8 kWh; at $0.15/kWh that is $1.20 a day or about $36 a month. The calculator does this for a whole list of appliances at once and totals it.

Check the rating plate or manual — it shows watts, or amps and volts (watts = amps × volts). The built-in library covers typical figures for common appliances, but thermostat-controlled ones like fridges, irons and heaters cycle on and off, so their average draw is well below the plate figure.

Anything that makes heat and runs for long periods: water heaters, space heaters, tumble dryers, ovens and pool pumps dominate most bills. Electronics are individually small but run all day — and standby losses across a whole house commonly add up to 5–10% of the bill.

Cycling appliances average less than their rated watts, usage hours vary by season, and many tariffs are tiered or time-of-use rather than one flat rate. Treat the result as a solid comparison tool — which appliance is worth replacing or rescheduling — rather than a bill prediction.

Target the heat-makers: shorter and cooler water heating, heat only occupied rooms, run pool pumps fewer hours, and shift what you can to cheaper time-of-use periods. A plug-in energy meter on a suspect appliance for a week tells you exactly what it really uses.