People worry about kettles and phone chargers. The real cost sits almost entirely in a handful of high-power appliances — and the gap between the two categories is enormous.
| Appliance | Typical use | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|
| Kettle | 5 min/day | £23 |
| Laptop | 6 hrs/day | £37 |
| Electric shower | 10 min/day | £138 |
| Fridge-freezer | 24 hrs/day | £343 |
| Portable electric heater | 3 hrs/day | £572 |
A portable electric heater run for three hours a day costs 25× what a daily kettle habit does — despite feeling like the smaller, more innocent appliance in the room. An EV home charger (7kW, 4 hours/day) goes further still: roughly £2,668/year, more than the fridge-freezer and heater combined.
Cost is wattage multiplied by hours used, nothing else. A 3000W kettle used for 5 minutes uses less energy than a 150W fridge-freezer left running continuously — duration beats peak power almost every time.
Pick from 12 real presets or enter your own wattage and hours.
Use the Electricity Calculator →