What does it actually cost to run?
Published answers for the same appliance range from $3 to $20 a month, and almost none say which assumptions produced them. Every figure here shows its working — wattage, duty cycle, and your state’s price, all three adjustable.
365.0 kWh a month at the U.S. average, 18.34¢/kWh for June 2026. Excludes fixed charges, taxes and time-of-use rates, which vary by utility and are on your bill.
Typical 750–1,500 W. Use the figure on your own label if you have it.
Showing a space heater. Pick a different appliance, or read why published figures disagree.
The appliances that actually drive your bill
Ranked by annual cost at the U.S. average of 18.34¢ per kilowatt-hour. Note how little this looks like a ranking by wattage.
- Electric furnace15,000 W$3,012/yr
- Electric vehicle charging7,200 W$1,239/yr
- Heat pump3,500 W$1,171/yr
- Central air conditioner3,500 W$1,125/yr
- Electric water heater4,500 W$940/yr
- Space heater1,500 W$803/yr
- Pool pump1,500 W$803/yr
Where you live changes everything
Residential electricity ranges from 13.11¢ per kilowatt-hour in Nevada to 52.72¢ in Hawaii. The same appliance, used identically, costs about 4.0× as much in one as the other.
Guides
- Which appliances use the most electricity?
The household appliances that actually drive your electricity bill, ranked by what they cost to run over a year rather than by their wattage.
- Why is my electric bill so high?
A diagnostic walk through the causes of a high electricity bill, in the order they are actually worth checking.
- Which states have the cheapest and most expensive electricity?
Residential electricity prices across all 50 states and DC, ranked, using the latest monthly figures published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
- Is it cheaper to leave the air conditioning on or turn it off?
The physics behind a genuinely contested question, and the conditions under which each answer is right.
- What is a kilowatt-hour?
The unit your electricity is billed in, what it physically represents, and how it differs from a kilowatt.
- How much does standby power actually cost?
Standby draw is real but small, and the advice built around it is mostly misdirected. What is worth unplugging, and what is not.
- Why do published appliance running costs disagree so much?
Search for what a refrigerator costs to run and you will find answers between $3 and $20 a month. Most of them are defensible. Here is how to tell which one applies to you.
- What are time-of-use electricity rates?
Why the same kilowatt-hour can cost three times more at 6pm than at 2am, how to tell whether you are on such a plan, and what actually changes if you are.
- How do I read my electricity bill?
Which number on the bill is the one that matters, how to separate the cost of electricity from the cost of being connected, and what to compare against what.
Electricity prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, for June 2026 — the latest month published. They are statewide residential averages and exclude fixed charges, taxes and time-of-use rates. How every figure here is calculated.