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 some devices are certified as a yearly total and the rest are rated in watts.
- Water heater$655
- Space heater$402
- Starlink$141
- Tumble dryer$112
- Window air conditioner$85
- Refrigerator$80
- Freezer$74
- Dehumidifier$61
- PlayStation 5$58
- Dishwasher$44
- Pool pump$32
- Air purifier$28
- Television$26
- WiFi router$24
- Washing machine$20
- Ceiling fan$8.03
- Desktop computer$7.89
- Computer monitor$3.48
yearly figure on test assumptionscalculated from watts × hours
| Device | Power | Standby | A year | On what basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much electricity does a dryer use?Tumble dryer | not published | — | $112 | 608 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a dehumidifier use?Dehumidifier | not published | — | $61 | 335 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a washing machine use?Washing machine | not published | — | $20 | 110 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a dishwasher use?Dishwasher | not published | — | $44 | 239 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does an air conditioner use?Air conditioner | not published | — | $85 | 462 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a computer use?Desktop computer | not published | 1.1–2.3 W | $7.89 | 43 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does an air purifier use?Air purifier | not published | — | $28 | 151 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a water heater use?Water heater | not published | — | $655 | 3,570 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a refrigerator use?Refrigerator | not published | — | $80 | 435 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How much electricity does a freezer use?Freezer | not published | — | $74 | 405 kWh/year, on test assumptions |
| How many watts does a hair dryer use?Hair dryer | 1200–1875 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does an air fryer use?Air fryer | 1200–1875 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does a clothes iron use?Clothes iron | 1200–1700 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does a toaster use?Toaster | 1000–1500 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How much does a space heater cost to run?Space heater | 750–1500 W | — | $402 | 1500 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a microwave use?Microwave | 1200–1500 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does an electric kettle use?Electric kettle | 1000–1500 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does a coffee maker use?Coffee maker | 1000–1200 W | — | — | used in minutes — see its page |
| How many watts does a pool pump use?Pool pump | 118–742 W | 3–6 W | $32 | 118 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a PS5 use?Games console | 46–217 W | 0.31–3.8 W | $58 | 217 W × 4 h/day |
| How much electricity does a TV use?Television | 83–102 W | 0.3–0.5 W | $26 | 96 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does Starlink use?Satellite internet | 75–100 W | 20 W | $141 | 88 W × 24 h/day |
| How many watts does a ceiling fan use?Ceiling fan | 3–30 W | 0.4–1.4 W | $8.03 | 30 W × 4 h/day |
| How many watts does a WiFi router use?Router | 3–27 W | — | $24 | 15 W × 24 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.
The fridge and the freezer are certified as a yearly total, so there are no hours to set. For the router and Starlink the calculator starts at 24 hours a day; setting fewer prices only the part that felt like use and leaves 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 a year, worked out from a defined test cycle and an assumed pattern of use. 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 rated in watts are priced at the wattage and hours their own page uses — the setting it names, or the middle of the range where it names none — for 4 hours a day, or 24 for the ones that are never switched off. A dash in the standby column means the device has no standby mode rather than that we did not check.