Appliance Energy Cost Calculator
Work out what any appliance really costs to run, per day, per month and per year
Appliance
Picking one fills in typical values. Every field below stays editable — use the numbers from your own appliance label where you have them.
The wattage printed on the label.
Share of the time it actually draws power while switched on.
Seasonal appliances run for only part of the year.
Power used while idle. Leave at 0 if unknown.
US residential average, EIA (verified 2026-08-16).
Optional. Leave at 0 to skip the comparison.
What it costs to run
If you upgraded
How this compares
The ten most expensive appliances on this list to run for a year, priced at your electricity rate. Yours is highlighted if it is among them.
Related Calculators
Why duty cycle matters
Most appliance calculators multiply the wattage on the label by the hours you use it. For a lamp or a television that is fine — they draw roughly the same power the whole time they are on. For anything with a thermostat it is badly wrong.
A refrigerator does not draw 150 watts continuously. Its compressor runs until the cabinet is cold, shuts off, and starts again when the temperature drifts up — typically about a third of the time. A 1,500 watt space heater in a room that reaches its set temperature might run 50 to 70 percent of the time. Using the label wattage without accounting for that overstates the running cost by two to three times.
The duty-cycle field is where you correct for it. The presets carry sensible starting values; if you want a precise figure, a plug-in energy monitor measured over a week will give you the real one.
Where the numbers come from
- Electricity rates: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 — US residential average 18.44 cents/kWh (verified 2026-08-16).
- Grid carbon intensity: EPA eGRID2023 Revision 2, by subregion. US average 0.3480 kg CO2 per kWh.
- Tree equivalent: EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies — 0.060 metric tons CO2 per urban tree seedling per year, averaged over ten years and already discounted for mortality. It is a planted seedling, not a mature tree.
- Appliance presets: typical nameplate wattages and duty cycles for mainstream US models. They are starting points to override, not precision claims.
How to Use This Calculator
- Pick an appliance or enter your own. Choose from the list to load typical values, or enter the wattage printed on your appliance label directly. Every field stays editable.
- Set the duty cycle. This is the share of the time the appliance actually draws power while it is switched on. Anything thermostat-controlled - a fridge, air conditioner, water heater or space heater - cycles well below 100%. Leave it at 100% only for things that draw steadily, like a television or a light.
- Enter how often you use it. Hours per day, days per week, and weeks per year. Seasonal appliances such as a space heater or pool pump only run for part of the year, and the weeks field is what captures that.
- Enter your electricity rate. Take the figure from your own bill for an accurate answer. The default is the current US residential average from the EIA.
- Read the results. You get cost per day, month and year, annual kilowatt hours, and the carbon that electricity represents on your regional grid. The chart below ranks common appliances at your rate so you can see where this one sits.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate what an appliance costs to run?
Multiply watts by hours used per day, divide by 1,000 to get kilowatt hours, then multiply by your electricity rate. A 1,500 W space heater running 8 hours a day at 18.4 cents per kWh costs about $2.21 a day - but only if it runs continuously. Most thermostat-controlled appliances cycle on and off, which is what the duty-cycle field corrects for.
Why is the wattage on the label misleading?
The Department of Energy notes that the wattage printed on an appliance is the maximum it draws, not the average. A refrigerator labelled 700 W has a compressor that runs roughly a third of the time, so its real average draw is closer to 150-200 W. Using the nameplate figure straight through overstates the running cost of any cycling appliance - refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, dehumidifiers - by two to three times.
What is the average US electricity rate?
The EIA put the US residential average at 18.44 cents per kilowatt hour in May 2026, with a rolling twelve-month average of 17.82 cents. Rates vary enormously by state, from around 12 cents in parts of the Southeast and Northwest to over 40 cents in Hawaii and California. Use the exact rate from your own bill - it is usually printed as a total cost divided by kWh used.
Which household appliances actually cost the most to run?
The ones that make heat or move it. Electric water heating, electric space heating, central air conditioning and clothes dryers dominate most bills. A hot tub can quietly beat all of them at roughly 3,300 kWh a year. Electronics and lighting, which people tend to worry about most, are usually a small fraction of the total - a modern LED bulb costs well under $5 a year to run.
Does unplugging things actually save money?
A little, and it depends on the device. Standby or "vampire" draw is typically 0.5 to 3 watts, so a device idling at 2 W for a year uses about 17 kWh - around $3. Across thirty devices that is still under $100 a year. The exceptions are anything with a display, an always-on network radio, or an instant-on feature, which can idle at 10-20 W. Enter that in the standby field above to see it.