Electricity Cost Calculator
This electricity cost calculator shows what it costs to run an appliance per hour, day, month and year from its watts, the hours you use it and your price per kWh. The price starts at the average residential price for the state you pick (EIA, August 2026) and you can type your own. If you only want the energy used, in kWh, use the kWh calculator instead.
Maintained by Archie Chang · Price data retrieved November 8, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Your appliance
Example value. Read the wattage on the appliance’s label and type it here.
The state figure is an average, not your rate. Type the price from your bill to replace it.
What it costs to run
Cost per month
$2.21
at 4 hours a day and 18.16 cents per kWh
Energy cost only. Many devices draw less than their label wattage most of the time, and your bill may add fixed charges and taxes.
The wattage is yours to enter: it is printed on the appliance’s label. The price starts from an EIA state average, which is not your rate; replace it with the price per kWh on your bill. To convert watts to kWh without a price, use the kWh calculator.
How the cost is worked out
Cost = watts ÷ 1,000 × hours × price per kWh. A year is 365 days and a month is one twelfth of a year.
Example: a 1,500-watt space heater is 1.5 kW. At 18.16 cents per kWh it costs $0.2724 per hour; used 4 hours a day that is $1.09 a day, $33.14 a month and $397.70 a year if it ran like that every day.
Where to find wattage and price
Wattage is on the label or in the manual. This page does not preload typical appliance wattages: the official estimates were not readable from the source when this page was built, so nothing is guessed for you.
For your price, use your bill. For a starting point by state see electricity rates by state, and for a typical whole bill see the average electric bill page. Charging a car? Use the EV charging cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate what an appliance costs to run?
Divide the watts by 1,000 to get kilowatts, multiply by the hours of use, then multiply by your price per kWh. A 1,500-watt space heater used 4 hours a day at 18.16 cents per kWh uses 6 kWh a day and costs $1.09 a day, or about $397.70 a year if it ran that way every day.
Where do I find an appliance’s wattage?
Look at the label or nameplate on the device or in its manual. If it lists volts and amps instead, watts = volts × amps. This calculator does not fill in typical wattages, because it only uses figures from a source it could read directly.
What electricity price should I use?
Use the price per kWh on your own bill; dividing the total charges by the kWh used gives a figure that includes delivery. The state average (EIA, August 2026) is only a starting point and is not your rate.
How are the monthly and yearly costs worked out?
The daily cost is multiplied by 365 for a year, and a month is one twelfth of that year, about 30.4 days. Real use changes from day to day.
Cite this page
Page title: Electricity Cost Calculator: Cost to Run an Appliance. Updated November 8, 2026. Canonical URL: https://fedratecalc.com/electricity-cost-calculator/
Data source: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, compiled by FedRateCalc.
Plain-text citation
FedRateCalc. Electricity Cost Calculator: Cost to Run an Appliance. Updated November 8, 2026. https://fedratecalc.com/electricity-cost-calculator/HTML link
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