Save money using your electrical appliances

If you want to use less electricity and save money on your bill, it’s important to know which of your electrical appliances cost the most to run. You can save money by:

• finding ways to use them less

• changing the settings to save electricity

• checking if your electricity is cheaper at different times of the day - for example, at night

Don't stop using essential appliances

It's important to look after your physical and mental health. You should:

• keep your fridge freezer on to keep food fresh - and for any medication you need to keep cold

• keep the room you’re in well lit so you can move around safely and reduce the risk of mental health conditions like depression

• keep your home warm enough so there’s less risk of your home becoming damp and you getting ill

Check the average cost of using your appliances

Electrical appliances that get hot or have moving parts are usually the most expensive to use - for example, the appliances you use to:

• heat your home and your water

• wash and dry things

• cook food

Appliances that only produce light or sound are usually less expensive - for example, entertainment devices or computers.

How we’ve estimated the cost of using appliances

We've based the cost of using appliances on:

• the national average price of electricity - 34p per kilowatt hour (kWh)

• the average amount of power the appliance uses - known as the 'power rating'

These costs are only an estimate - they're not accurate enough to help you calculate what your electricity bill should come to.

You can check the average power ratings for different appliances on the Centre for Sustainable Energy's website.

Compare the cost of using your appliances

You can use our appliances tool to compare the average cost of using different electrical appliances.

Save money using your appliances

There are things you can do to reduce the amount of electricity your appliances use and save money on your bill.

Check the cost of using light bulbs

The most energy efficient bulbs are LED bulbs. CFL bulbs are another type of energy efficient bulb.

Halogen bulbs and incandescent bulbs are older types of bulb that are more expensive to use. 

You’ll usually find halogen bulbs used as spotlights in kitchens. 

You can usually tell if a bulb is incandescent because it gives off a lot of heat.

If you used a light for 3 hours a day:

• an average LED bulb would cost around £2 a year

• an average CFL bulb would cost around £7.50 a year

• an average halogen bulb would cost around £13 a year

• an average incandescent bulb would cost around £24 a year

LED bulbs are the most expensive to buy, but they last much longer than other types of bulb. For example, an average LED bulb can last over 10 years, but an average halogen bulb lasts around 2 years.

Unplugging appliances instead of using standby

Standby costs make up only a small amount of a household energy bill. 

How much it costs to leave your appliances or devices on standby depends on how many you have and how efficient they are. An average UK household spends around £65 a year on standby costs - just over £5 a month.

You’ll save the most money by unplugging any appliance or device you’re not using, but it’s important to think about which devices you might want to leave on - for example:

• a set-top TV box that records TV programmes

• your wifi router - so it can receive security updates and keep other devices connected to the internet

Check if it’s cheaper to use your appliances at different times

Your appliances will only be cheaper to use at different times if you’re on a ‘time-of-use’ tariff like Economy 7.

Time-of-use tariffs charge you different prices for electricity at different times - with cheaper electricity during ‘off peak’ hours. 

For example, Economy 7 charges you: 

• a cheaper price for electricity 7 hours a day - usually from midnight to 7am

• an above average price for the rest of the day

You can find out if you’re on a time-of-use tariff by checking your bill. If you’re on a time-of-use tariff, you’ll see total charges for more than one electricity price.

Don’t run appliances like washing machines while you’re asleep - this is a fire risk. You can use a timer to set them to come on in the morning when you’re getting up, before the off-peak price of electricity ends.

Get accurate costs for using your appliances

The actual cost of using your appliances depends on things like their size or the type of technology they use.

You can use an energy monitor to get a more accurate measure of how much your appliances cost to use.

There are energy monitors that can measure: 

• how much electricity your whole home is using

• how much electricity a single appliance is using

Using an energy monitor for your whole home

If you have a smart meter, you’ll usually have an in-home display that shows how much electricity you’re currently using. 

If you don’t have a smart meter, you can get an energy monitor that clips to your electricity meter. You can then see how much electricity you’re using on a separate screen or smartphone app.

By checking how much electricity your whole home is using, you can see how your usage is affected when you use certain appliances.

Find out how to use your smart meter in-home display to save energy.

Using an energy monitor for a single appliance

A plug-in energy monitor plugs into a socket, then you plug your appliance into the energy monitor. 

It shows you how much electricity the appliance is using - either on a screen on the monitor itself or through a smartphone app.

Some plug-in energy monitors let you enter the rate you pay for your electricity. This means they can show you how much the electricity is costing you.

If you need help with bills or the cost of living

If you can’t afford your energy bills, you can check our advice on what to do if you’re struggling to pay.

If you don’t have enough money to live on, you can also get help with the cost of living.