Electricity Cost Calculator
Find what any appliance costs to run per hour, day, month and year at your own electricity rate.
Your details
Check the label on the appliance, or use a plug-in meter for the real figure.
Take this from your own bill — divide the total by the kWh used to capture delivery charges too.
Advanced
Power drawn while switched off but plugged in. Small numbers add up across a house.
This calculator runs entirely on your device. Nothing you enter is uploaded, stored, or sold. How this works
Annual running cost
$371
2,184.0 kWh a year at $0.17 per kWh
Includes your inputs, the full breakdown, and every row of the table.
Per month
$30.94
Per hour of use
$0.26
Annual consumption
2,184.0 kWh
Hours used per year
1,456
- Power draw
- 1,500 W
- Usage
- 4.00 h/day, 7 days/week
- Hours per year
- 1,456
- Energy used
- 2,184.0 kWh
- At $0.17 per kWh
- $371
- Per month
- $30.94
| Period | kWh | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour of use | 1.5000 | $0.26 |
| Per day | 5.984 | $1.02 |
| Per week | 42.00 | $7.14 |
| Per month | 182.0 | $30.94 |
| Per year | 2,184.0 | $371 |
What this means
- Running this 4.0 hours a day costs $371 a year. Halving the usage would save $186.
- Many appliances draw a few watts continuously even when switched off. Adding a standby figure above will show what that costs across the year.
- Use the rate from your own bill rather than the advertised price per kWh. Delivery, distribution and fixed charges often add thirty to fifty percent to the headline energy rate, and dividing your total bill by the kWh used captures all of it.
How the electricity cost calculation works
Electricity is billed in kilowatt-hours, which is simply power multiplied by time. A thousand-watt appliance running for one hour uses one kilowatt-hour. That is the whole calculation, and yet appliance running costs surprise people constantly, because wattage on a label tells you nothing on its own — a fifteen hundred watt space heater and a fifteen hundred watt kettle draw identically, but one runs for four hours an evening and the other for three minutes.
This is why the biggest electricity costs in most homes are not the things that feel powerful. Heating, cooling, water heating and refrigeration dominate bills because they run for long periods, often continuously. A refrigerator drawing a modest hundred and fifty watts but cycling all year uses far more than a two thousand watt vacuum cleaner used for twenty minutes a week. Time is doing more work in the equation than power.
The rate you should use is not the one advertised. Utility bills separate the energy charge from delivery, distribution, capacity and fixed customer charges, and the true cost per kilowatt-hour once everything is included is frequently thirty to fifty percent above the headline number. Dividing your total bill by the kilowatt-hours consumed gives the figure that actually applies to any decision about whether running something is worth it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the cost of running an appliance?
Multiply the wattage by hours used and divide by a thousand to get kilowatt-hours, then multiply by your rate. A 1500 W heater running four hours a day uses six kilowatt-hours daily, which at seventeen cents is just over a dollar a day.
What uses the most electricity in a home?
Heating and cooling first, then water heating, then refrigeration — all of which run for long periods rather than drawing spectacular power. Lighting and electronics are usually a much smaller share than people assume, especially since LED lighting became standard.
Is standby power worth worrying about?
Individually no, collectively sometimes. A single device drawing two watts costs a few dollars a year, but a house with thirty always-on devices can lose a hundred dollars or more annually. Set-top boxes, games consoles in rest mode and older equipment are the worst offenders.
What electricity rate should I use?
Divide your total bill by the kilowatt-hours you used, rather than taking the advertised energy rate. Delivery, distribution and fixed charges typically add thirty to fifty percent, and only the all-in figure reflects what an extra kilowatt-hour actually costs you.
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Disclaimer. This calculator is provided for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, medical, or engineering advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs you provide and the assumptions described above. Confirm any figure with a qualified professional before acting on it.