What each device costs to run
Sorted by how much power they draw, which is not the same as how much they cost you — a heater pulls fifteen times what a television does and runs a fraction of the hours.
Three questions this table answers
What draws the most
The Power column ranks devices by their peak wattage. A space heater at 1500 watts pulls fifteen times what a television draws, but only when it is actually on — the ordering by watts alone is not the ordering by cost.
What runs when nothing is happening
The Standby column shows what the device draws while switched off but plugged in. For a television, that is fractions of a watt; for a satellite terminal it is twenty. A dash means the device has no off-when-plugged-in state at all.
What it costs across a year
A year column collapses the two above into money at a published national tariff. The Basis column, right beside it, tells you exactly how each figure was reached — because two of our devices are certified per year and the rest are certified per watt.
- Water heater$655
- Space heater$301
- Tumble dryer$112
- Window air conditioner$85
- Refrigerator$80
- Freezer$74
- Dehumidifier$61
- Dishwasher$44
- PlayStation 5$35
- Air purifier$28
- Television$25
- Starlink$24
- Washing machine$20
- Desktop computer$7.89
- WiFi router$4.02
- Computer monitor$3.48
measured annual consumptioncalculated from watts × hours
| Device | Power | Standby | A year | On what basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much electricity does an air purifier use?Air purifier | not published | — | $28 | 152 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a computer use?Desktop computer | not published | 1.1–2.3 W | $7.89 | 43 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a dehumidifier use?Dehumidifier | not published | — | $61 | 335 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a water heater use?Water heater | not published | — | $655 | 3570 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a refrigerator use?Refrigerator | not published | — | $80 | 435 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a freezer use?Freezer | not published | — | $74 | 405 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a washing machine use?Washing machine | not published | — | $20 | 110 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a dishwasher use?Dishwasher | not published | — | $44 | 239 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does an air conditioner use?Air conditioner | not published | — | $85 | 462 kWh/year, measured |
| How much electricity does a dryer use?Tumble dryer | not published | — | $112 | 608 kWh/year, measured |
| How many watts does a hair dryer use?Hair dryer | 1200–1875 W | — | $412 | 1538 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does an air fryer use?Air fryer | 1200–1875 W | — | $412 | 1538 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a clothes iron use?Clothes iron | 1200–1700 W | — | $388 | 1450 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a microwave use?Microwave | 1200–1500 W | — | $361 | 1350 W × 4 h/day |
| How much does a space heater cost to run?Space heater | 750–1500 W | — | $301 | 1125 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a toaster use?Toaster | 1000–1500 W | — | $335 | 1250 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does an electric kettle use?Electric kettle | 1000–1500 W | — | $335 | 1250 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a coffee maker use?Coffee maker | 1000–1200 W | — | $295 | 1100 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a PS5 use?Games console | 46–217 W | 0.31–3.8 W | $35 | 132 W × 4 h/day |
| How much electricity does a TV use?Television | 83–102 W | 0.3–0.5 W | $25 | 93 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does Starlink use?Satellite internet | 75–100 W | 20–20 W | $24 | 88 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a WiFi router use?Router | 3–27 W | — | $4.02 | 15 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a monitor use?Monitor | 12–14 W | 0.15–0.3 W | $3.48 | 13 W × 4 h/day |
Devices with no off state
Four devices in the list above run for 8,760 hours a year: a refrigerator, a freezer, a home router, and — if you have one — a Starlink terminal. For these, the meaningful figure is not peak wattage but yearly total, because there are no hours to multiply against. Even 20 watts held continuously is 175 kilowatt-hours a year, which is more electricity than several of our other devices use in a year doing their entire job.
For these four the calculator on the device page still asks for hours, but the honest reading is 24 a day. Setting fewer means you priced only the part that felt like use and left the rest out of the total.
Two units, two kinds of certification
The Power column above is not the same measurement for every row. A television, an air fryer, a monitor: these are certified in watts drawn at the wall. A refrigerator, a freezer, a washing machine: these are certified in kilowatt-hours consumed across a year, measured under a defined test cycle. Both figures come from recognised standards; they just answer different questions.
Multiplying an annual figure by hours would count the usage twice, because the test cycle behind it already includes a defined pattern of use. Multiplying a wattage by a year of continuous use would overstate the total for anything that spends most of the day off. The Basis column against every row names which calculation was used for that specific device.
Annual figures use 18.34¢ per kWh (U.S. Energy Information Administration, June 2026), and the basis column says how each one was reached. Devices certified in watts are run at the middle of their range for 4 hours a day. A dash in the standby column means the device has no standby mode rather than that we did not check.