Use this calculator to estimate what a household appliance costs to run per use, per month and per year. It works best when you know the power rating in watts and roughly how long the appliance is used each time, and it is most useful as a baseline before deciding whether the appliance is cheap enough to keep, worth replacing, or simply being used inefficiently.
Most appliance running costs come down to three things: wattage, time used, and your electricity rate. Enter those and this page will do the rest, including optional standby use.
For most appliances, the easiest way to get a useful result is to use the label wattage, a realistic time per use, and your own electricity unit rate if you know it.
Use the label wattage if you do not have a smart plug or meter reading, then enter the normal cycle time or the typical time the appliance is actually on.
At 28p per kWh, that is roughly 0.13 kWh a day, or about 4p a day. Over a year it adds up, but it is still small compared with long-running heaters or hot-water devices.
That works out at about 0.4 kWh a day. The usage time matters more than most people expect with low-wattage devices used for long periods.
High wattage does not always mean high cost if the appliance only runs briefly. Short, powerful bursts can still cost less than lower-power devices left on for hours.
Small standby loads can still add a noticeable yearly cost if they are on nearly all the time. That is why standby is broken out separately in this calculator.
Power in kilowatts x hours used x electricity rate in pounds per kWh.
Standby watts / 1000 x standby hours per day x 365 x electricity rate.
Usage time, number of uses, and tariff usually shift the result more than small differences in rated wattage.
Use the result as a budgeting and comparison tool, then think about whether the bigger savings are likely to come from using the appliance differently, replacing it, or simply leaving it off standby.