Appliance & Electricity Bill Calculator
To find what an appliance costs to run, multiply its power in kilowatts by the hours it operates to get kilowatt-hours, then multiply by your electricity price. Enter the wattage, daily hours, days per week and your price, and this calculator shows the running cost per day, month and year, in both kWh and money.
Using US averages. Set your state or ZIP for local electricity, fuel, sun and grid figures. Stays on your device.
Check the label or nameplate — often in watts (W).
From a recent bill, or use the US average.
Assumptions
Identical appliances running the same way.
Annual running cost
$31.03
At constant power while on, over a full year.
Verdict: This runs about $31 a year — $3 a month, or 183 kWh.
Get a shareable image- Monthly cost
- $2.59
- Daily cost
- $0.09
- Daily energy
- 0.50 kWh
- Annual energy
- 183 kWh
Typical appliances for context
- LED bulb$5
- Laptop$10
- Refrigerator$68
- Desktop PC$102
- Clothes dryer$153
- Window AC$170
- Electric water heater$595
Assumes constant power draw while on. Cycling appliances (fridges, AC) and standby load aren’t modelled here. Estimate only.
Save & compare
Save the current inputs and compare up to 4 side by side. Stored on this device only.
How it works
This calculator turns an appliance’s power draw and how often you use it into energy and money.
- Power (watts) divided by 1,000 gives kilowatts — the rate the appliance pulls electricity.
- Hours per day and days per week set how long it actually runs; we average the weekly usage across all seven days.
- Electricity price turns the energy into a dollar cost, and quantity scales it for several identical units.
The headline is the annual running cost. The bars below place your appliance next to representative typical figures for common household devices, so you can see whether it is a big or small load.
Methodology & assumptions
Results use the inputs you provide plus the defaults below. The electricity price is editable and tied to a dated source; the comparison appliances use representative typical annual figures for context, not measurements of your own devices.
| Assumption | Default | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity price (default)US residential average; editable — use your own rate. | $0.17 /kWh | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |
| Comparison appliancesRepresentative typical annual use for context, not your devices. | 30–3,500 kWh/yr | U.S. Department of Energy (energy.gov) |
| Days in a yearCalendar year; leap years are not modelled. | 365 days | — |
| Power, hours, days, unitsAppliance-specific — you supply these. | your inputs | — |
Full formula, every default and its source: Electricity bill methodology.
Worked example
Take a 100 W appliance run 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, at $0.17/kWh:
- Daily energy: (100 ÷ 1,000) × 5 × (7 ÷ 7) × 1 = 0.5 kWh/day.
- Annual energy: 0.5 × 365 = 182.5 kWh/year.
- Annual cost: 182.5 × $0.17 ≈ $31.03.
- Monthly: $31.03 ÷ 12 ≈ $2.59; daily: 0.5 × $0.17 = $0.09.
For context, a refrigerator at a representative 400 kWh/year would cost about $68/year at the same price. Put in your own appliance’s wattage and usage above.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run an appliance?
Multiply its power in kilowatts by the hours it runs to get kWh, then multiply by your electricity price. For example, a 100 W appliance run 5 hours a day uses 0.5 kWh per day; at $0.17/kWh that is about 8.5 cents a day, $2.59 a month and $31 a year.
How do I work out kWh from watts?
Divide the wattage by 1,000 to get kilowatts, then multiply by the number of hours. A 1,500 W heater run for 2 hours uses 1.5 kW × 2 h = 3 kWh. The calculator does this for you and averages it over the week using your days-per-week figure.
Which appliances use the most electricity?
Anything that makes heat tends to dominate: electric water heaters, clothes dryers and air conditioners are typically the biggest single loads in a home, often hundreds or thousands of kWh a year. Small electronics like LED bulbs and laptops use very little by comparison.
How can I cut my electricity bill?
Focus on the high-energy, heat-making appliances first — reduce dryer and water-heater use, set the thermostat sensibly, and replace old incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Run this calculator for your biggest appliances to see where the money actually goes before changing habits.
Does standby (phantom) power matter?
It can add up across many devices, but this calculator models only the power drawn while the appliance is actively on. If you want to include standby, add the standby wattage and the hours it sits idle as a separate calculation, or use a plug-in energy meter to measure it directly.
What is the difference between watts and kWh?
Watts (or kilowatts) measure the rate of power draw at an instant — how hard the appliance is pulling. A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is energy: one kilowatt sustained for one hour. Your utility bills you per kWh, so cost depends on both the wattage and how long it runs.
How are the daily, monthly and annual figures derived?
Daily energy is power (kW) × hours per day × (days per week ÷ 7) × units. Annual energy is daily × 365, annual cost is annual energy × price, the monthly cost is the annual cost ÷ 12, and the daily cost is daily energy × price.
Related calculators
Related guides
- What uses the most electricity in your home?The biggest electricity users in a typical home are heating, cooling and water heating — here is how to rank your own loads and cut the costliest ones.
- How to read your electricity billDecode your electricity bill line by line — supply vs delivery charges, flat, tiered and time-of-use rates, fees and taxes — and the fastest ways to cut it.
- Heat pump vs gas furnace: running costs comparedHeat pump vs gas furnace running cost, decoded — how a heat pump SCOP of 3.2 beats a 90% furnace, when cheap gas wins, plus upfront cost and payback.
By EnergyTally Team · Editorial & analysis team
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- EnergyTally Team,