Trying to reduce your electricity usage? Our experts show you how.
How Much Electricity Different Items in Your House Use
Updated on Oct. 01, 2024
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HVAC Equipment
This is the big one. “Both the heating and cooling systems use a significant amount of energy to maintain a comfortable environment for homes,” says Saling, a virtual electrical expert at Frontdoor, a home care and maintenance app that connects you to experienced, on-staff experts. “They can consume anywhere between three kilowatts (kW) to five kW of electricity per hour, depending on usage.”
You can calculate the electricity usage for your heating, cooling and ventilation (HVAC) system, and everything else on this list, by knowing:
- The watts your appliance uses. Watts are units of electric power. Williamson, retired chief electrical inspector for the state of Minnesota, says watts are like “electricity at work.”
- The time (measured in hours) that you use the tool, appliance or device.
- The price you pay for electricity (measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh)).
For example, your HVAC uses three kilowatts (3000 watts) per hour. It kicks on for eight hours a day, and your electric company charges you 12 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Multiply 3 kW x 8 hours x $0.12, which comes to $2.88 per day, or about $1050 a year.
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Washing Machine
The electricity usage of washing machines varies depending on your model. My relatively new front-loading washer uses 720 watts. Older machines and top-loaders use more. To find your wattage, check the nameplate on your washer. If you see amps (A) instead of watts (W), multiply amps by 120 volts (V). (Mine was 6A x 120V = 720W.)
Let’s say you have the same washer and do five 60-minute loads of laundry a week (260 hours per year). Divide 720 by 1000 to convert watts to kilowatts. Multiply the kilowatts by the hours you use your washer, then by your electricity rate: 0.72 kW x 260 hours x $0.12/kWh = $22.46 per year.
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Dryer
Heating the air that dries your clothes takes a lot of power, typically 1,500–5,000 watts, according to EnergySage, a clean energy marketplace that publishes energy data and electricity guides. Whirlpool says their models average around 2100 watts, so we’ll base our calculation on that. (Find your dryer’s wattage just like you did your washing machine.)
Based on five loads of laundry a week, a 2100-watt dryer used 260 hours a year comes to about $66.
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Dishwasher
KitchenAid says modern dishwashers use about 1,200 watts per cycle. That’s 1.2 kWh per 60-minute cycle, which is $0.15 a load— or $54 a year if you run it every day.
Today’s dishwashers are much more efficient than in decades past, but Saling says it’s a great idea to “upgrade old appliances with new Energy Star-rated models, which consume less energy and will in turn reduce your energy bill.” Current Energy Star standards require standard-size dishwashers to use 240 kWh or less of electricity per year and 3.2 gallons of water or less per cycle.
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Microwave
Microwave ovens range from 600 watts for the smallest models to over 1,500 watts for large-capacity ones. To find the watts for your model, check inside the door and plug the numbers into the formula. Or, if you’re sick of math, Energy.gov has a handy calculator that does the formula for you using state-specific or national electricity averages.
A 1000-watt microwave uses 91.3 kWh of electricity per year when used 15 minutes a day at $0.12/kWh— about $11 total.
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Air Fryer
Air fryers use even more energy than microwaves, which is why you shouldn’t plug the two appliances into the same circuit. Air fryers come in several sizes and price points and, as such, the wattage varies widely. The energy website Green Match puts the range at 800–2000 watts, depending on size.
A 1500-watt air fryer used two hours a week uses 156 kWh, which costs about $19 per year. In other words, it costs a nickel to roast veggies for 15 minutes.
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Ceiling Fan
Finally, a fan that uses almost no energy at all. You could run a ceiling fan eight hours a day all year long, and you’d still use less energy than the air fryer at two hours a week. Energy Star compiles a list of the most efficient ceiling fans, and the top fan uses 16 watts on high.
A more typical average is 35 watts, which is what the Energy.gov calculator uses. Using this middle-of-the-road wattage, a ceiling fan running 8 hours a day for an entire year uses 102 kW and costs about $12 at the national average electricity rate.
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Lights
Lighting is a top-five energy user in American homes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). “Lighting is a big deal,” Williamson says. Your home’s electricity usage depends on the type of bulbs you have, the size of your home and how often you leave the lights on.
A single 60-watt incandescent light bulb left on for 8 hours a day costs about $22 a year to operate. That’s why Saling says switching to light-emitting diodes (LED) will cut that by 80%. Bonus? They last longer. “Not only will you be using less energy, but you will also be replacing them less frequently,” Saling says.
Because LEDs and even compact fluorescent bulbs use fewer watts to produce the same amount of light, experts recommend looking at lumens (light output) instead of watts when purchasing LEDs. A handy comparison guide is right on the package.
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Television
Televisions use about 50–200 watts of power, but again, the type of TV matters. An LCD television manufactured 20 years ago is less efficient than a brand-new LED. EnergySage says 100 watts is a good average number. I concur: My 55-inch television, bought three years ago, uses 73 watts.
If my TV is on three hours a day, it would cost about $10 a year and 80 kilowatt-hours. Energy.gov’s calculator allows you to choose between multiple TV types when calculating your usage.
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Space Heater
Here’s a scenario: Your workplace is chilly, so every morning, you run a 1,500-watt space heater under your desk. You do this two hours a day over a three-month winter season (more if you live in my old home state of Minnesota). Running this space heater ten hours a week for three months (workdays only) uses 180 kWh and costs you about $22.
- Safety note: Always plug space heaters into their own circuit directly into a wall outlet. Never use power strips. Modern space heaters have more safety features than in the past, but they’re still a fire risk.
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Gaming System
Your Xbox or PlayStation isn’t a huge power draw, but considering how many hours people play nowadays, the numbers can add up. Electricity usage varies, depending on what the system is doing. For example, an online multiplayer gaming session uses more energy than the load screen.
Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox, breaks down the baseline wattage of different phases of play on its website. The power use hovers around 150 watts (Series S uses less than Series X). If you play for 2 hours a night, you’re looking at 110 kWh and $14 a year.
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Oven
Electric ovens are another big draw, using anywhere from 2,000–5,000 watts for the oven itself and 1,000–3,000 watts for the stove. Let’s say you cook dinner every night, averaging seven hours a week split between the stove and oven. Setting 3,000 watts as the baseline, each year you’ll use nearly 1,100 kWh of electricity and pay about $135 at a rate of $0.12 per kWh.
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Laptop computer
For a laptop, it’s the charging that uses electricity directly. A good rule of thumb, according to EnergySage, is 30–70 watts. That checks out, because my charger is currently using 68 watts. Check your Mac’s watts by hitting the Apple icon, going to About This Mac, then running a system report (it’s in the Hardware > Power section).
At 68 watts and 8 hours a day, using the national average energy price at the Energy.gov calculator, a laptop like mine uses 200 kWh and costs about $25 a year. Keep in mind that large gaming laptops use significantly more energy.
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Desktop computer
Desktops are considerably larger than laptops, and they use more energy. EnergySage puts the range at 200–500 watts. Size and tech matter, too, and newer computers use less power than older ones. For example, Apple says a 24-inch, 2023 iMac idles at 40 watts, and has a CPU maximum of 71 watts. But, a 2019 iMac with 5K retina display has a CPU max of 262 watts, with a 71-watt idle.
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Water Heater
Appliances that heat things use a lot of electricity, and your water heater is no exception. Energy.gov says water heaters are the second-biggest energy users in your home, accounting for 18% of home energy costs.
A typical water heater uses 4,500 watts of energy but does not heat constantly. Electricity usage varies depending on how much hot water you use and how frequently the heater kicks on. A water heater that runs two hours a day at 4,500 watts uses 3,285 kWh, costing about $406 per year.
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Refrigerator
This is the last of the “top five” energy users in your home, according to the EIA. Fridges use an average of 300 to 800 watts, but they cycle on and off all day. “The refrigerator shuts off every time you open the door, and then it turns back on when you shut it,” Williamson says. “This is one way appliance manufacturers try to pare down the loads” for better energy efficiency.
EnergySage says you can divide the watts by 3 and use that number instead of calculating using the full wattage. Using that metric, a 600-watt refrigerator, calculated at 200 watts, uses 1,752 kWh per year and costs about $216 to operate.
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Shop Tools
Your garage workshop has a lot of energy-gobbling tools, and they’re not going away anytime soon. “Any kind of motor-operated appliance, we’re always going to need them,” Williamson says. “A lot of [shop tools] are battery operated nowadays, but my miter saw, my table saw, they’re old-school, motor-operated.” The average table saw draws 15 amps and eats up 1,800 watts of power. Sanders and shop vacs can use 1,200 watts or more, while an air compressor can clock in at 2000 watts.
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Instant Pot
Pressure cookers use about 1,000 watts — at least, mine does. (The Instant Pot website confirms a range of 700 watts for a mini, and 1,500 watts for larger models.) At 2 hours a week for the 1000-watt version, that’s 104 kWh and about $13 per year. The highest wattage comes during the pressure-cooking stage, the least when you’re keeping something warm.
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Hair Dryer
The average hair dryer uses 1,000–2,000 watts, according to EnergySage. (Check out the hair aisle at Target; Most of them will be 1,875 watts). Using one of these hair dryers 15 minutes every other day will use about 85 kWh and cost $10.50 over a year.
Bathroom receptacles must be protected by ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) to protect you from shock, and hair dryers are why. GFCIs monitor the current coming in and out of your bathroom receptacles, and shut down the circuit if they sense an imbalance.
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Coffee Maker
A morning without coffee? Unthinkable. If you need a jolt of java every day, be prepared to use about a thousand watts of energy, depending on the model, size and gizmos included. Brewing takes the most power, keeping it hot takes less. While a French press or pour-over contraption needs no energy at all (electrical, that is), a regular drip coffee maker that’s on for an hour each morning uses 365 kWh and $45 a year.
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Other Ways to Save
Lighting and HVAC are two of the top five energy users in your home, so Saling recommends using smart lighting and HVAC controls: “You can set schedules based on usage, or go into the app when you forget to turn off that light!” Don;t stop there. There are tons of other smart solutions that can help you save energy and money.
Smart plugs can help if you forget to unplug something, and they can go in any outlet in your home, Saling says. “Say you accidentally forget to turn off a hair straightener, [a huge fire risk],” he says. “If you have it plugged into a smart plug, you can go into the app and turn the smart plug — and therefore the straightener — off, without having to worry about turning around and going back home.”
Finally, consider installing whole-home smart energy monitors. They “give you insights on your home’s overall energy consumption and identify which appliances are using the most power,” Saling says. Smart home energy monitors cost a few hundred dollars, but the energy savings could add up quickly.
About the Experts
Allyson Saling is a master electrician and a virtual electrical expert at Frontdoor, a home service and maintenance app that connects homeowners to experienced, on-staff experts to help you troubleshoot and fix your home maintenance issues. Saling has nearly 10 years of experience in the electrical industry.
John Williamson is a master electrician, educator and inspector with 45 years of experience in the electrical industry. A frequent Family Handyman contributor, Williamson retired from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, where he was the Chief Electrical Inspector.
Sources
- Apple, Inc.: “iMac Power Consumption and Thermal Output”
- Green Match: “How Energy-Efficient Are Air Fryers? A Comprehensive Analysis”
- Energy.gov: “Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use”
- Energy.gov: “Water Heating”
- EnergySage: “How Many Watts Does It Take to Run a House?
- Energy Star: “Dishwashers Key Product Criteria”
- Energy Star: “Ceiling Fans”
- KitchenAid: “How Does a Dishwasher Work?”
- Microsoft: “Xbox Sustainability Platform Baselines”
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: “Energy Use in Homes”
- Whirlpool: “Dryer Wattage Explained: How Much Electricity Does a Dryer Use?”
