What everything costs to run
Ranked by what they cost a typical household over a year, at the Ofgem price cap for 1 July – 30 September 2026. Every one has a calculator so you can put your own machine, your own habits and your own tariff in.
Want the full data table — cost per use, per hour and per year, sortable and citable? See the UK Appliance Running Cost Index →
Hot tub
£477 a year
£1.31 per day · Genuinely expensive — often several hundred pounds a year. A tight-fitting cover and good insulation matter more than usage.
Immersion heater
£429 a year
78p per hour · The dearest way to heat water on a standard tariff. On solar or an off-peak rate, one of the cheapest.
Electric heater
£313 a year
52p per hour · Never cheaper per unit of heat. Only worth it for short bursts in one room, and a heated throw beats it outright.
Oil-filled radiator
£188 a year
31p per hour · The cheapest-feeling plug-in heater thanks to its thermostat — but still electric heat, so only for a single room.
Tumble dryer
£183 a year
£1.17 per load · The single most expensive plug-in appliance most homes own. If you dry more than three loads a week, a heat pump model pays for itself.
Electric shower
£114 a year
31p per shower · Cheaper per shower than the 8.5kW label implies, but on a gas home a mixer shower off the boiler costs about a third as much.
Gaming PC
£114 a year
10p per hour · Cheap when idling, genuinely thirsty under load. A frame-rate cap is the easiest saving.
Electric oven
£109 a year
42p per hour · About 40p an hour. Cook several things at once and it is the cheapest way to cook there is.
Halogen heater
£104 a year
26p per hour · The cheapest plug-in heater per hour for warming one person directly — but useless for heating a whole room.
Dehumidifier
£85 a year
8p per hour · A few pence an hour. Cheaper than heating a damp room, and much cheaper than fixing damp walls.
Fridge freezer
£76 a year
21p per day · Always-on, so it adds up. A tired old unit is worth replacing on running cost alone.
Dishwasher
£75 a year
29p per cycle · About 25–35p a cycle on eco. Run it full, skip the pre-rinse, and it beats the sink.
Chest freezer
£67 a year
18p per day · Efficient for its size, but only worth it kept reasonably full. An empty second freezer is pure waste.
Kettle
£63 a year
3p per boil · About 1p for two mugs, 3p for a full kettle. Fill it to what you need and ignore the gadgets.
Washing machine
£43 a year
21p per load · 15–25p a load. Washing at 30°C rather than 40°C saves about a third, and the machine costs the same either way.
Games console
£38 a year
5p per hour · Cheap to play, but rest mode running all year can cost as much as the gaming itself.
Television
£34 a year
2p per hour · Cheap to run, especially turned down from shop brightness. Standby draw is the only thing worth switching off.
Slow cooker
£29 a year
18p per use · Cheaper than the oven for long, slow meals — one of the best-value ways to cook.
Air fryer
£27 a year
13p per meal · Real saving, modest size. Best for small, frequent meals — not a replacement for the oven.
WiFi router
£23 a year
6p per day · Tiny on its own. The real lesson is how quickly always-on standby gadgets add up together.
Heated throw
£19 a year
3p per hour · Around 1–3p an hour. Cheapest warmth in the house, provided you only need to warm yourself.
Microwave
£14 a year
4p per use · One of the cheapest appliances to run, and the right choice for reheating and small portions.
Hair dryer
£12 a year
3p per use · Trivial to run despite the wattage. Not worth worrying about.
Electric blanket
£6 a year
3p per hour · Pennies an hour, and a genuine way to cut the heating bill if it lets you turn a radiator down.
Toaster
£4 a year
1p per use · Negligible to run, and far cheaper than grilling toast in the oven.
None of these are the big number
Add every appliance on this page together and you are still looking at well under half of a typical energy bill. Heating the house is the rest. That is the number worth an afternoon of your attention.
What your heating actually costsEnergy figures checked 2026-08-26, for typical mid-range modern appliances. Older machines use considerably more. How we work these out.