Key Takeaways. On average, refrigerators use 300-800 watts of electricity. It costs an average of $20 a month or $240 a year to run a refrigerator.
A 20-year-old refrigerator could use 1,700 kWh of electricity every year, compared with about 450 kWh for a similarly sized new ENERGY STAR model. At an electrical cost of 12 cents per kWh, that represents a savings of $150 per year and a potential payback of about 7-9 years.
In the last few years, new features have been added to refrigerators that turned them into luxurious but more energy consuming home appliances. A new fridge consumes about 390 kWh, but the exact same fridge with the addition of an ice maker uses approximately 471 kWh annually.
Running a refrigerator costs $0.10 to $0.44 daily, $3 to $13 monthly, or $36 to $160 annually.
If you have a 2100W (2.1 kW) washing machine and you run it for an hour, it'll use 2.1kWh of electricity in that hour. If electricity costs 34p per unit, multiply 2.1kWh by 34p and you get a grand total of 71p.
The national average price of electricity hovered around $0.14 per kWh (it shot up to $0.16 in late 2022) and the average home's total consumption is 10,632 kWh a year, which totals $1,452.12 yearly. So, in other words, your fridge accounts for a bit more than 10% of the average home's total electric bill.
For example, overloading the fridge with too much food can put extra strain on the motor, which will cause it to work harder and potentially fail sooner. Similarly, frequently opening and closing the fridge door can also lead to premature wear and tear.
If you're using a machine that is 10-12 years old, then it is time to buy a new machine. Modern washing machines use almost half the energy the old machines used.
It's cool that you want to keep your fridge humming efficiently, but the amount of food you store in it doesn't matter. “A full refrigerator doesn't decrease energy use,” says researcher Jacob Talbot of the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
Heating and cooling are by far the greatest energy users in the home, making up around 40% of your electric bill. Other big users are washers, dryers, ovens, and stoves. Electronic devices like laptops and TVs are usually pretty cheap to run, but of course, it can all add up.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, standby power accounts for as much as 5% to 10% of residential energy use, and homeowners could save $100 to $200 each year on utility bills by unplugging devices that aren't in use.
The real issue lies in other appliances that are constantly drawing power, like refrigerators, televisions, and devices plugged into outlets. Hot Water Heater: One of the biggest energy consumers when you're not at home is your electric hot water heater.
A modern-era Energy Star-rated fridge, by comparison, might only use 350 kWh annually. At the same 10¢ per kWh price, that's around 10¢ a day, $2.90 per month and $35 per year, meaning that you're looking at annual savings of $165 by jettisoning the old refrigerator in favor of a new one.
Most people will see that they have a lower tariff overnight, usually between 11 pm and 7 am. This is the best time to do your washing as you'll save money. Saving money on electricity is only part of the equation.
While the amount of energy a shower will use varies on the individual appliance, an electric shower can use an average of 8.5kW of energy. With this in mind to work out the cost of using an electric shower you need to multiply how much energy it is using, so 8.5, by the cost of electricity, 0.34.
Even with some of the more energy efficient models, the combined cost of doing laundry can add up to more than $115 a year for the electricity alone.