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UK appliance running costs at the energy price cap

What every appliance costs to run, per use, per week and per year, recomputed at each price cap period, with the wattage basis and the usage assumption in the data rather than in the small print.

36 rows: 18 appliances costed at each of the 2 recorded price cap periods. Cost per use is shown below; the download also carries cost per week, cost per year, the wattage range, the usage assumption and the source for every row.

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Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Both files carry the same rows.

Rates from Ofgem, read 2026-09-16. Licence CC BY 4.0.

Cost per use, by cap period

ApplianceTypical W1 July1 OctoberChange
Kettle3,0003.9p3.9p+0.8%
Tumble dryer2,50097.9p98.7p+0.8%
Washing machine cycles2,10016.4p16.6p+0.8%
Dishwasher cycles1,80047.0p47.4p+0.8%
Electric oven cycles2,50065.3p65.8p+0.8%
Air fryer1,50012.9p13.0p+0.8%
Microwave9001.9p1.9p+0.8%
Fridge freezer cycles200£1.25£1.26+0.8%
Electric heater2,000£1.57£1.58+0.8%
Immersion heater3,000£1.17£1.18+0.8%
Electric shower9,00030.5p30.8p+0.8%
Dehumidifier cycles30062.7p63.2p+0.8%
Hot tub cycles2,000£3.13£3.16+0.8%
Television10010.4p10.5p+0.8%
Gaming PC50039.2p39.5p+0.8%
Electric blanket1002.6p2.6p+0.8%
Slow cooker cycles25045.7p46.1p+0.8%
Vacuum cleaner9007.8p7.8p+0.8%

Appliances marked cycles switch on and off rather than running flat out, so their plate rating overstates the real cost, often by a factor of two or three. Multiplying a fridge's plate rating by 24 hours is the commonest error in published running-cost figures and this dataset does not make it silently: the column is there so you can decide.

Method

The whole calculation is kilowatts x hours x unit rate. Watts come from the typical range for the appliance class; hours and uses per week are stated assumptions and are columns in the data; the unit rate is the Ofgem cap average for the period, for England, Scotland and Wales on Direct Debit.

Your own rate differs by region, by how you pay and by meter type, which is why the dataset publishes the rate as a column rather than baking it into a single figure, and why the site gives you a calculator rather than a number to trust.

Current period: 1 July to 30 September 2026 at 26.11p per kWh. Next period: 1 October to 31 December 2026 at 26.32p per kWh.