Electricity cost calculator: what each appliance costs to run

This electricity cost calculator shows what each appliance in your home costs to run per month and per year. Pick your state to use its average residential price from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or type the rate from your own bill. Add up to 12 appliances and the totals update as you type.

Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. The calculator runs in your browser.

How to use the electricity cost calculator

1. Set your price. Choose your state, or enter your own rate in cents per kWh. To find your rate, divide the total on your bill by the kWh used and multiply by 100.
2. Add appliances. Pick one from the list or choose Custom. The list fills in example watts and hours. Replace them with the numbers on your own device's label.
3. Set how you use it. Hours on per day, days per week, and how many you have. Add standby watts if the device draws power when it is switched off.
4. Read the table. The bar under each name shows which appliance costs the most per year. Copy the results to compare with your bill.

How electricity cost is calculated

The method comes from the U.S. Department of Energy's guide to estimating appliance and home electronic energy use. It has two steps:

• Daily kWh = (watts × hours used per day) ÷ 1,000
• Cost = kWh × your price per kWh

This calculator adds three things the basic formula leaves out. It handles devices you do not use every day, it multiplies by how many you have, and it counts standby power for the hours a device is off. In full:

Weekly Wh = quantity × [days used × (watts × hours on + standby watts × (24 − hours on)) + (7 − days used) × standby watts × 24]

Daily kWh is weekly Wh ÷ 7 ÷ 1,000. A year is daily kWh × 365, and a month is daily kWh × 365 ÷ 12.

The state prices are the average residential prices for January to July 2026 from EIA's Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B. EIA works them out from the revenue and sales that utilities report, so they are averages across all customers in the state. Your own rate from your bill is always more accurate, so use it if you have it.

Two tips from the same DOE page help with the inputs. If a label lists amps instead of watts, multiply amps by volts, and most US appliances use 120 volts. Refrigerators cycle on and off, so DOE suggests dividing the time it is plugged in by three, which is why the refrigerator preset uses 8 hours a day.

Worked example: the same space heater in two states

Say you run a 1,500-watt space heater for 4 hours a day, every day for a 30-day month. These are example usage numbers; the prices are EIA's 2026 state averages.

Step	California (33.25¢)	Washington (14.40¢)
Daily kWh	1,500 × 4 ÷ 1,000 = 6 kWh	6 kWh
Monthly kWh (30 days)	6 × 30 = 180 kWh	180 kWh
Monthly cost	180 × $0.3325 = $59.85	180 × $0.1440 = $25.92

Same heater, same hours, and the bill is more than twice as high in California. That is why the price input matters more than most people think. The calculator uses 365 ÷ 12 days for a month, so it shows slightly more than this 30-day example.

DOE's own example is an electric kettle rated at 1,500 watts used for about 1 hour a day. That is 1.5 kWh a day, 547.5 kWh a year, and at the $0.11 rate in DOE's example, $60.23 a year. At the 2026 U.S. average of 18.19¢, the same 547.5 kWh costs $99.59.

How much does a kWh cost where you live?

The U.S. average residential price was 18.19¢ per kWh for January to July 2026, up from 17.01¢ for the same months of 2025, according to EIA Table 5.6.B. The gap between states is large:

Highest average prices	¢/kWh	Lowest average prices	¢/kWh
Hawaii	46.28	North Dakota	12.36
California	33.25	Nebraska	12.90
Massachusetts	30.14	Idaho	12.96
Maine	29.99	Utah	13.16
New York	29.38	Louisiana	13.35

Every state is in the calculator's drop-down. These are averages, so plans with time-of-use pricing, tiers or a large fixed charge will not match exactly.

What good looks like, and what to do next

Compare your total with your bill. EIA says the average US residential customer used about 899 kWh a month in 2022. If the appliances you listed come to far less than your bill, something big is missing, often heating, cooling, a water heater or a dryer. If your list comes to more, check the hours you entered.

Then work on the largest bar first. In the calculator's starting example, the space heater costs more per year than the TV and gaming PC put together, so one hour less a day on the heater saves more than any change to the other two. For devices with standby draw, a power strip you switch off at night removes the standby hours.

If your bill looks wrong, ask your utility for the meter readings and the rate you are on. Our guide on how to write a complaint letter that gets a reply has a template for a billing dispute. If you are moving, add utility setup to your moving house checklist and check the new rate before your first bill. And if paperwork like this piles up, our list of life admin jobs to hand to ChatGPT includes reading bills and drafting letters.

FAQ

How do I calculate the cost of running an appliance?

Multiply the appliance's watts by the hours you use it per day, then divide by 1,000 to get kWh per day. Multiply that by your price per kWh to get the daily cost, and by 365 for a year. A 100-watt TV on for 5 hours uses 0.5 kWh a day. At 18.19¢ per kWh that is about 9 cents a day, or $33.20 a year.

How much does 1 kWh of electricity cost?

The US average residential price was 18.19 cents per kWh for January to July 2026, according to EIA's Electric Power Monthly. State averages ranged from 12.36 cents in North Dakota to 46.28 cents in Hawaii. Your own price depends on your utility and plan, so check your bill and enter that rate for the most accurate result.

How do I find my appliance's wattage?

Look for the label on the back or bottom of the device, or in the manual. If it lists amps instead of watts, multiply the amps by the voltage, which is 120 volts for most US appliances, according to the Department of Energy. A plug-in electricity usage monitor will also show the watts a 120-volt device is drawing.

Does this include fixed charges and taxes?

No. The calculator works out energy use and multiplies it by a price per kWh. Monthly customer charges, taxes and some fees on your bill are not included unless they are already in the rate you enter. EIA's state averages are revenue divided by kWh sold, so they spread some of those costs across each kWh.

Why is my bill higher than the calculator total?

Usually because some large users are missing from your list, such as heating, cooling, a water heater or a dryer, or because the hours entered are lower than real use. Fixed monthly charges and taxes also add to the bill. Compare the kWh total on your bill with the calculator's monthly kWh to see which one it is.