See exactly what each appliance adds to your electric bill. List what you run — pick from presets like air conditioners, space heaters, refrigerators, dryers and EV chargers, or type the watts from a label — set the hours of use and your price per kWh, and get the cost per day, month and year with the biggest energy users ranked.
📌 kWh = watts × hours ÷ 1,000. Use the wattage on the appliance label or a plug-in meter; devices with compressors and thermostats (fridges, AC, heaters) cycle on and off, so their average draw is well below the label — the presets already account for that. Use the all-in rate from your bill (total charges ÷ kWh used), which includes delivery charges; typical US rates run 12–30¢ per kWh.
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Worked example and where the money goes
Refrigerator 150 W × 24 h × 30 days = 108 kWh ($18.36 at 17¢); window AC 1,200 W × 8 h × 30 = 288 kWh ($48.96); TV 100 W × 5 h × 30 = 15 kWh ($2.55). Together 411 kWh and about $70 a month — with the air conditioner responsible for 70 % of it. Cutting the AC to 6 hours or raising the thermostat a few degrees saves more than unplugging every gadget in the house.
Watts × hours of use ÷ 1,000 = kilowatt-hours; kWh × your rate = cost. A 1,200 W window air conditioner running 8 hours a day uses 9.6 kWh, which at 17¢ is $1.63 a day, about $49 a month. Find the wattage on the label or nameplate; if it only lists amps, multiply by 120 V (or 240 V for large appliances).
Heating and cooling first: central AC, electric furnaces, heat pumps and space heaters can be half the bill in season. Then water heating (about 12 %), the clothes dryer, refrigerator and freezer, cooking, lighting and electronics. Always-on standby loads — routers, TVs, chargers, cable boxes — add 5–10 % and are the easiest savings.
Because its compressor cycles: it runs perhaps a third of the time, so a fridge labeled 400 W averages 100–150 W across the day (35–55 kWh a month). The same applies to air conditioners, heaters, freezers and water heaters, whose thermostats switch them off once the target is reached. The presets use realistic average draws; a plug-in meter over 24 hours gives the exact figure.
About 900 kWh a month (10,500–10,800 kWh a year), which at 17¢ is roughly $150 a month. Homes with electric heat, a pool or an EV run 1,500–2,500 kWh in peak months; a small apartment with gas heat may use 300–500.
Cite this calculator
APACalcBrew. (2026). Electricity Bill Calculator. https://calcbrew.com/electricity-bill-calculator
MLA“Electricity Bill Calculator.” CalcBrew, 2026, calcbrew.com/electricity-bill-calculator.
Link to https://calcbrew.com/electricity-bill-calculator. Results are estimates; cite the underlying formula or data source for academic work.