With household bills soaring and energy prices in particular cutting into people’s wallets, most of us are looking for ways to cut costs.
While there are certain appliances, such as fridges or freezers that need to be switched on 24/7, you might be able to save yourself hundreds of pounds by reducing your usage of other appliances, or by opting for cheaper alternatives.
Here’s our rundown of the appliances that are most expensive to run and some tips for reducing your costs. All of our calculations are based on the average energy usage of new appliances, so the amount your appliances cost to run at home could vary considerably. We’ve used the current energy price cap of £0.30 per kWh for electricity to work out how much appliances will cost to run. Remember that you also have to pay a standing charge for your energy, regardless of how much you use.
1. Tumble dryer
If you have a large household, laundry is likely to be a time-consuming task that tumble dryers can speed up considerably, but they are also one of the biggest energy-sapping appliances in our homes.
The type of tumble dryer you have makes a huge difference to how much it costs you to run. Here are the average costs of running each type of tumble dryer with a 9-10kg load capacity running once a day for a year.
| Type of dryer | Average annual cost |
| Vented | £549.25 |
| Condenser | £545.97 |
| Heat pump | £171.81 |
Ideally you should try to use your tumble dryer as little as possible to keep costs down, and instead air dry clothes, or use a dehumidifier to speed up the process. Alternatively, if giving up tumble drying isn’t an option, some people suggest putting a dry towel in the tumble dryer with your damp clothes to speed up the drying time.
2. Oven
Almost half (42%) of UK households say that their main cooking method is the oven, according to research carried out by frozen foods company Iceland and energy supplier Utilita, but it’s worth knowing just how much cooking this way could cost you.
Below is a breakdown of how much different types of cooker cost to run for the average daily cooking time of 15 minutes.
| Appliance | Cost per year to run |
| Electric cooker | £101.48 |
| Dual cooker (part electric, part gas) | £86.80 |
| Gas cooker | £36.67 |
Source: Utilita
Gas cookers are considerably cheaper to run than electric cookers, largely because gas is a cheaper energy source, but you don’t need to rush out and buy a new cooker to cut your costs, as simply changing how you cook can help.
Some ways to cut cooking costs include:
- Making use of your microwave – a microwave is one of the most energy-efficient cooking methods, costing just under £30 for the year if you were to use it for 20 minutes each day. It can dramatically reduce cooking times too. For example, a jacket potato in the microwave will take just under 10 minutes to cook, compared to an hour or more in the oven. You can use a microwave for all sorts, including steaming vegetables, cooking fish and even making a small cake, so when you do your weekly food shop, check on the packaging whether the items you’re buying are microwavable.
- Using residual heat to finish cooking – if you’re cooking something for more than 30 minutes in the oven, you can turn the oven off 10 to 15 minutes before the end of the actual cooking time and your food will continue cooking in the residual heat.
- Cook using an air fryer – As their name suggests, air fryers work by circulating hot air around your food, effectively frying your food with hot air. They tend to be cheaper to use than an oven, because they cook food more quickly.
Find out more about reducing your cooking costs in our article 5 ways to cut energy costs when you cook.
3. Dishwasher
Many of us feel like we couldn’t live without our dishwashers, but with the energy costs alone possibly reaching up to £102 a year to run, plus the cost of water on top of this, some of us might be prompted to think differently before putting on a load.
The most energy-efficient full-size dishwasher, if run every day for a year, could cost you around £53 annually, while using a least energy-efficient model could cost £102.60.
Some of the best ways to cut the cost of using your dishwasher include only putting it on when it’s full, loading it properly so everything cleans well, and choosing a shorter programme or quick wash which uses less energy.
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4. Washing machine
Washing machines can cost anywhere between £50 to £88 to run each year in electricity if you run a standard cycle once a day – not to mention the additional cost of the water used.
The quickest way to save money on your washing routine is to reduce the number of washes you do each week. Try to only put the washing on once you’ve got a full load. Unless your laundry is particularly dirty, then a quick wash is usually enough to refresh your items. Spot cleaning can be a useful way to eke out wears in between washes, or letting something air outside can freshen it up too.
Another thing that can change the cost of your annual washing bills is to tweak the temperature you wash your clothes at. Opting for a lower temperature will save you money on energy usage, but should also help your clothes last longer. Dropping the temperature to 30°C, for example, will cut your energy use by 38% on average compared to a 40°C wash, whilst a 20°C wash will use 62% less energy, according to consumer association Which?.
If your washing machine has seen better days, and you’re thinking about replacing it, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get the most energy-efficient model. The most important things to look for if you’re looking to keep your energy costs down are:
- The energy label and energy rating – a bit like an energy performance certificate for your home, the energy label gives the energy rating for washing machines, scoring its energy performance alphabetically from A-G, with A being the most energy efficient and G the least. This label will also provide an overview of how much energy a washing machine uses per cycle, how big a load it can hold, the amount of water it consumes, its spin-dry efficiency, how noisy it is, and how long a cycle lasts. This can help you compare machines, and understand how much it might cost to put on a load. Generally machines with better energy performance ratings will be cheaper to run, so it’s worth opting for the best rated machine you can afford.
- The length of the quick wash – A quick wash is often the most energy efficient cycle you can choose, as they are the fastest and therefore the cheapest, so check how long it might take.
5. Fridges and Fridge freezers
While you might assume that your fridge and/or freezer uses the most energy as it’s constantly switched on, they’re relatively cheap to run.
The type of fridge freezer you have can make a huge difference to your bills. The most energy-efficient basic model of fridge freezers costs around £29 a year to run, while the least energy-efficient ones will often be double this. If however, you are looking for a high-end model, such as an American-style double-doored fridge freezer, you could be shelling out nearly £116.10 a year to run it.
As they’re always on, it can be tricky to change the costs of your fridge or freezer dramatically, but you can make sure they are running as effectively as possible. For example, keeping your freezer full means that it runs more efficiently as the temperature will fluctuate less, and making sure you don’t leave the fridge door open for long will help keep the temperature steady too.
6. Kettle
Popping the kettle on a few times a day could set you back anywhere from £38 to £82 a year, but there are plenty of ways to keep this cost down.
Most kettles on the market now have power usages of 2200 or 3000 watts, and using them for around 15 minutes a day will cost about 15p to 20p, respectively. Of course, these incremental differences can really add up, meaning that over the course of a year, you’ll pay around £20 less if you had a 2200 watt kettle versus a 3000 watt one.
The quickest and easiest way to reduce the cost of using your kettle is to only boil the amount of water you need. For example, if you have a 3000 watt kettle and use it to make a hot drink around five times a day, this is what the price difference would be between filling the kettle right up, and only putting in enough water for one cup:
| Amount of water | Time to boil | Cost per day | Cost per year |
| Full kettle – i.e. 1.5L | 4 minutes | 27p | £97.56 |
| 1 cup full – around 235ml | 45 seconds | 5p | £17.74 |
While the difference in cost is astonishing, of course, it’s not always appropriate to boil just one cup of water, but it’s important to be aware of the impact using more water than you need could have on your energy costs.
7. Television
You’d be hard pushed to find a new TV nowadays that has an energy rating better than an ‘E’, with it costing anywhere between around £14 and £55 a year to power your watching habits, according to Which?.
Of course, the size, make and model of your TV will change how much it costs to run each year, with larger TVs unsurprisingly costing more to run than smaller ones.
One way you can cut the cost of your TV running costs is to make sure you switch it off at the plug when you aren’t using it. While it might be more convenient to have your telly sat on standby all the time so you can switch it on with your remote, doing to could be costing you anywhere up to £16 a year, according to energy supplier Utilita.
8. Hair dryer
If you use your hairdryer three or four times a week to blow dry your hair, depending on the model you use, this could cost you around an average of £15.58 a year to run.
Much like kettles, hair dryers come with a variety of different wattages. The high end models on the market like Dyson and Shark use 1600 watts, whereas some cheaper brands use 2400. While reading these two figures on a label might not mean all that much to you, using a 1600-watt hair dryer for 10 minutes three to four times a week, would typically cost you about £13 over a year, whereas using a 2400-watt one would cost around £20.
Again, rather than heading out and buying a new hair dryer with a lower wattage, it’s easier to think about ways to reduce the amount of time that you use your hair dryer for. For example, you could try letting your hair air dry if you’re not going out, or if you aren’t keen on this, let it dry most of the way and then finish it off with a hair dryer. Doing this is actually better for your hair, with many beauty experts suggesting only using a hairdryer when your hair is 80% dry to prevent damage.
9. Coffee maker
If you’re a coffee fan, your coffee maker might be one of the most frequently used items in your kitchen, but your coffee habit could be costing anywhere from £10 to nearly £40 a year to run.
The easiest way to cut your energy costs is to only have the coffee maker on while you make your brew. Lots of coffee makers have an automatic switch-off function if they’re left unused for a short while, but relying on this still means you’ll end up using some energy unnecessarily. Make sure it’s only plugged in and switched on at the main when you need it, and consider warming a mug with hot water from the tap, rather than using any cup warming function.
10. Air conditioning units
This summer we saw record temperatures across the UK, so if you invested in a portable air conditioning unit, you might have a hard time keeping your cool when you see how much it costs to run.
The average air conditioning unit can cost anywhere between £1.30 and £5.40 a day to run (if you use it for eight hours), but most will average around £2.30. While most people in the UK will only use their air conditioner in the summer months if you were to use it every day you’d be footing a bill of over £848.
There are some much cheaper options out there if you want to cool down your space, but don’t want to pay the high price, then an electric fan might be a good option, only costing around 8p a day to run.
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