The fridge — always on, rarely questioned
Runs a duty cycle around the clock. In most homes it is the largest load nobody thinks about.
438 kWh a year — about 4% of a typical bill
Appliance Wattage Chart & Running Cost Calculator
What every household appliance draws, what it costs to run for a year, and where it ranks against everything else in the house.
Inputs
Selecting one fills in typical figures. Choose Custom to use a nameplate rating.
Leave at 0 to use the typical figure. For a fridge this is compressor run time, not hours switched on.
In your own currency — the cost comes back in the same units.
Results
Cost per year109.5kWh × tariff
- Cost per month
- 9.125
- Energy per year
- 438W × h × 365 / 1000 (kWh)
- Energy per day
- 1.2
- Running draw
- 150 W
- Share of typical bill
- 4.171 %
Refrigerator (18 cu ft): 150 W running, typically 8 h/day of actual draw. Runs on a duty cycle — "on" all day, drawing power about a third of it.
That is about 4.2% of a typical 10,500 kWh household year.
Ranked 19 of 58 in our appliance table by annual consumption. The top three are electric resistance furnace, heat pump (heating), ev charger (level 2, 32 a).
Surge on start is about 600 W — 4.0× the running figure. Size a generator or inverter for the surge, not the running watts.
Diagram
Worked examples
Games console left in rest mode
Three hours of play, twenty-one hours of standby at 10 W. See how much of the total is doing nothing.
Standby is roughly a third of its annual consumption
The phone charger myth
The advice everyone repeats. Run the numbers on whether unplugging it is worth the effort.
Under 1 kWh a year from standby — effectively nothing
EV charger — the new biggest load
A Level 2 charger at three hours a day. This is why electrification changes household bills.
8,410 kWh a year — most of a typical household on its own
The complete appliance wattage chart
When to use this: working out why a bill is high, deciding which appliance is worth replacing, sizing a generator or off-grid system, or settling an argument about whether leaving the TV on standby matters.
Two numbers, and conflating them is the source of most confusion:
- Running watts — draw while the appliance is actually working. This is what a circuit or generator must supply, and what the rating plate states.
- Duty hours — hours per day it actually draws that power. For anything thermostatic this is compressor or element run time, not hours switched on. A fridge is on 24 hours a day and runs about 8.
Annual energy is watts × duty hours × 365 / 1000. Multiply by your tariff for the cost.
Heating & cooling
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central air conditioning (3 ton) | 3,500 | 12,000 | — | 6 | 7,665 |
| Window air conditioner | 1,000 | 3,000 | — | 6 | 2,190 |
| Heat pump (heating) | 3,000 | 10,000 | — | 8 | 8,760 |
| Electric resistance furnace | 15,000 | — | — | 3 | 16,425 |
| Portable space heater | 1,500 | — | — | 5 | 2,738 |
| Ceiling fan | 60 | — | — | 8 | 175 |
| Box fan | 80 | — | — | 8 | 234 |
| Dehumidifier | 500 | — | — | 10 | 1,825 |
| Air purifier | 50 | — | — | 24 | 438 |
Water & pumps
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric water heater (tank) | 4,500 | — | — | 3 | 4,928 |
| Tankless water heater | 18,000 | — | — | 0.7 | 4,599 |
| Heat pump water heater | 500 | — | — | 6 | 1,095 |
| Well pump (1/2 hp) | 750 | 2,100 | — | 1 | 274 |
| Sump pump | 800 | 2,400 | — | 0.5 | 146 |
| Pool pump | 1,100 | 3,300 | — | 8 | 3,212 |
| Hot tub | 4,000 | — | — | 4 | 5,840 |
Kitchen
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator (18 cu ft) | 150 | 600 | — | 8 | 438 |
| Chest freezer | 200 | 800 | — | 6 | 438 |
| Electric oven | 2,400 | — | — | 0.5 | 438 |
| Electric cooktop (one element) | 1,500 | — | — | 0.5 | 274 |
| Induction hob (one zone) | 1,800 | — | — | 0.4 | 263 |
| Microwave | 1,200 | — | 3 | 0.25 | 110 |
| Dishwasher | 1,800 | — | — | 1 | 657 |
| Electric kettle | 2,000 | — | — | 0.2 | 146 |
| Coffee maker | 900 | — | — | 0.3 | 99 |
| Toaster | 1,100 | — | — | 0.1 | 40 |
| Air fryer | 1,500 | — | — | 0.3 | 164 |
| Slow cooker | 250 | — | — | 6 | 548 |
| Blender | 400 | — | — | 0.05 | 7 |
| Range hood | 100 | — | — | 1 | 37 |
Laundry
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washing machine | 500 | 1,400 | — | 0.7 | 128 |
| Electric dryer (vented) | 3,000 | — | — | 1 | 1,095 |
| Heat pump dryer | 800 | — | — | 2 | 584 |
| Clothes iron | 1,100 | — | — | 0.2 | 80 |
Entertainment
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LED TV, 55 inch | 100 | — | 0.5 | 5 | 183 |
| OLED TV, 65 inch | 150 | — | 0.5 | 5 | 274 |
| Games console | 150 | — | 10 | 3 | 164 |
| Gaming PC | 400 | — | — | 4 | 584 |
| Sound bar | 40 | — | 2 | 5 | 73 |
| Streaming box | 5 | — | — | 24 | 44 |
Office & computing
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop PC | 200 | — | — | 8 | 584 |
| Laptop | 60 | — | — | 8 | 175 |
| Monitor, 27 inch | 30 | — | — | 8 | 88 |
| Router and modem | 12 | — | — | 24 | 105 |
| Printer | 50 | — | 3 | 0.5 | 9 |
| Phone charger | 5 | — | 0.1 | 3 | 5 |
Lighting
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LED bulb (60 W equivalent) | 9 | — | — | 5 | 16 |
| CFL bulb (60 W equivalent) | 14 | — | — | 5 | 26 |
| Incandescent bulb (60 W) | 60 | — | — | 5 | 110 |
| LED strip (5 m) | 24 | — | — | 4 | 35 |
| Outdoor LED floodlight | 30 | — | — | 6 | 66 |
Other
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Standby W | Duty h/day | kWh / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV charger (Level 2, 32 A) | 7,680 | — | — | 3 | 8,410 |
| Garage door opener | 400 | 1,200 | — | 0.1 | 15 |
| Vacuum cleaner | 1,200 | — | — | 0.3 | 131 |
| Hair dryer | 1,800 | — | — | 0.2 | 131 |
| Treadmill | 900 | 2,700 | — | 0.5 | 164 |
| Electric lawn mower | 1,500 | — | — | 0.3 | 164 |
| Table saw | 1,800 | 5,400 | — | 0.2 | 131 |
The ten biggest loads in a house
Ranked by annual consumption. This is where the bill actually goes, and it is not where most people look.
| # | Appliance | kWh / year | Share of a typical bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electric resistance furnace | 16,425 | 156% |
| 2 | Heat pump (heating) | 8,760 | 83% |
| 3 | EV charger (Level 2, 32 A) | 8,410 | 80% |
| 4 | Central air conditioning (3 ton) | 7,665 | 73% |
| 5 | Hot tub | 5,840 | 56% |
| 6 | Electric water heater (tank) | 4,928 | 47% |
| 7 | Tankless water heater | 4,599 | 44% |
| 8 | Pool pump | 3,212 | 31% |
| 9 | Portable space heater | 2,738 | 26% |
| 10 | Window air conditioner | 2,190 | 21% |
Heating, water heating and now EV charging dominate. Everything else — the lights, the television, the phone chargers people worry about — is rounding error by comparison. If you want a lower bill, the only interventions that matter are in the top five.
How many watts does a house use?
A typical home averages around 1,200 W continuously, which is roughly 10,500 kWh a year. But the average hides enormous swing:
| Situation | Typical draw |
|---|---|
| Overnight, everyone asleep | 200–400 W |
| Ordinary evening | 800–1,500 W |
| Cooking dinner | 3,000–6,000 W |
| Dryer plus air conditioning | 6,000–9,000 W |
| Peak, everything at once | 10,000–15,000 W |
That peak is why a house needs a 100–200 A service even though it averages a fraction of it. Sizing the service is a separate calculation with its own demand factors.
Standby power — where the popular advice is wrong
"Unplug your chargers" is the most repeated energy tip and one of the least useful. The numbers:
| Device | Standby W | kWh / year | Worth acting on? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games console in rest mode | 10 | 77 | Yes — disable instant-on |
| Set-top box | 15 | 131 | Yes |
| Sound bar | 2 | 17 | Marginal |
| Modern TV | 0.5 | 4 | No |
| Phone charger, nothing attached | 0.1 | 0.9 | No |
A phone charger left plugged in costs a few pence a year. A games console with rest mode enabled costs roughly twenty times that. Regulation is the reason: standby limits have pushed most modern electronics under 0.5 W, but devices that deliberately stay semi-awake — consoles, DVRs, smart speakers — are exempt because they are technically doing something.
Surge watts and generator sizing
Anything with a motor draws far more starting than running — typically three to six times. Size a generator for the surge of the largest motor plus the running load of everything else:
| Appliance | Running W | Surge W | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central air conditioning (3 ton) | 3,500 | 12,000 | 3.4× |
| Heat pump (heating) | 3,000 | 10,000 | 3.3× |
| Table saw | 1,800 | 5,400 | 3.0× |
| Pool pump | 1,100 | 3,300 | 3.0× |
| Window air conditioner | 1,000 | 3,000 | 3.0× |
| Treadmill | 900 | 2,700 | 3.0× |
| Sump pump | 800 | 2,400 | 3.0× |
| Well pump (1/2 hp) | 750 | 2,100 | 2.8× |
This is why a 1,000 W generator will not start a 700 W well pump. The running figure fits comfortably; the 2,100 W surge does not.
Where these figures come from, and where they stop
These are typical values for modern equipment, good enough to estimate a bill, compare appliances or size a generator. They are not a substitute for a rating plate.
- Age matters enormously. A refrigerator from 1995 can use three times what a current one does. Efficiency standards have moved a long way.
- Duty cycle is local. A fridge in a hot kitchen runs far more than one in a cool basement. Air conditioning duty depends entirely on climate.
- Regional voltage changes the numbers. A UK kettle at 3,000 W boils in half the time of a US one at 1,500 W, and uses about the same energy doing it.
- Measurement beats estimation. A plug-in energy monitor costs very little and captures the duty cycles and standby draw that any table has to generalise.
How to use this calculator
- Pick the appliance
The dropdown fills in typical running watts and duty hours. Choose Custom to enter a nameplate rating instead.
- Adjust the duty hours if you know better
This is hours per day the appliance actually draws power, not hours it is switched on. A fridge is on 24 hours and runs about 8.
- Enter your tariff
Use whatever currency your bill is in. The result comes back in the same units, so there is no conversion to get wrong.
- Compare against the whole house
The result shows what share of a typical household bill this one appliance represents, and where it ranks in the chart below.
Frequently asked questions
How many watts does a house use?
A typical home averages around 1,200 W continuously, which works out to roughly 10,500 kWh a year. Instantaneous draw swings enormously — a few hundred watts overnight, several kilowatts when the oven, dryer or air conditioning are running. Peak demand for service sizing is a different calculation again.
What uses the most electricity in a home?
Heating and cooling, by a wide margin, followed by water heating. In an all-electric home those two are often more than half the bill. EV charging has recently joined them — a Level 2 charger used daily can consume as much as everything else in the house combined.
How do I calculate the running cost of an appliance?
Multiply watts by hours used per day, divide by 1,000 to get kWh, then multiply by your tariff. A 1,500 W heater run 4 hours a day costs 1500 × 4 / 1000 = 6 kWh, or about 1.50 a day at 0.25 per unit.
Why does a fridge use less than its wattage suggests?
Because it cycles. A 150 W refrigerator is plugged in 24 hours a day but its compressor runs perhaps 8, so it consumes around 438 kWh a year rather than the 1,314 kWh that continuous operation would imply. The same applies to anything thermostatic — freezers, water heaters, air conditioning.
Is it worth unplugging appliances to save standby power?
For some, yes; for most, no. A games console left in rest mode at 10 W costs meaningful money over a year. A phone charger with nothing attached draws under a tenth of a watt and costs a few pence annually. The advice to unplug chargers is the most repeated and least useful energy tip there is — target the tens-of-watts devices instead.
What is the difference between running watts and surge watts?
Running watts is the steady draw once the appliance is going. Surge is the much higher momentary demand when a motor starts — typically three to six times running. A fridge running at 150 W can surge to 600 W. Generators and inverters must be sized for the surge, which is why a 1,000 W generator will not start a 700 W pump.
How accurate are these wattage figures?
They are typical values for modern equipment and are good enough for estimating a bill or sizing a generator. A specific unit can differ substantially — an old refrigerator can use three times a new one. For anything that matters, read the rating plate, or measure with a plug-in energy monitor, which is the only way to capture real duty cycles.
How do I work out my whole house consumption?
Add up each appliance individually, or read it off the meter — take a reading a week apart and divide by seven for a daily average. The meter is more reliable, because it captures the duty cycles and standby loads that estimates always miss.
Sources and further reading
- US EIA — Residential Energy Consumption Survey
- US Department of Energy — Estimating appliance energy use
Last reviewed .
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