Electricity Cost Calculator

A 1,500-watt space heater running 8 hours a day costs $66.10 a month at the national average rate of 18.16 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is 31.6 percent of the average American electric bill of $209.23 a month, and the same heater costs $171.74 a month in Hawaii and $46.30 in Nevada, because the rate, not the heater, is the price. Most people have never priced a single appliance, so the bill arrives as one number and the appliances hide inside it, and the heater, the dryer, the water heater, and the air conditioner are the lines that matter, while the television, the laptop, and the light bulbs are the lines that do not. This ledger prices any appliance from three numbers, the watts, the hours, and the rate, and it prices the twelve appliances people ask about most, at your rate, in one table, so the bill stops being a mystery and becomes a list, and the list has a largest line, and the largest line is the one to fix first.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, August 2026 (released October 2026): U.S. residential average 18.16 cents per kWh, up 3.4 percent from August 2025; average monthly bill $209.23 on 1,152 kWh of use; state rates from 12.72 cents (Nevada) to 47.18 cents (Hawaii). The EIA average is total residential revenue divided by total kilowatt-hours sold, so it includes fixed charges and is a statewide average, not a single tariff; your own bill's effective rate is the total divided by the kWh used. Model: kWh per day (on a day it runs) is watts times hours divided by 1,000; a week is the daily figure times the days per week; a month is the weekly figure times 52 divided by 12; a year is the weekly figure times 52; cost is kWh times the rate. Appliance wattages are typical running or average draws, stated per row; cycling appliances (refrigerators, freezers) use an average draw, and the yearly-kWh mode below takes the figure from the yellow EnergyGuide label instead. This is an estimate, not a bill: fixed charges, taxes, and tiered rates move the real total.

Step 1 — The appliance

The preset is the fast way in: a space heater is 1,500 watts, a dryer is 3,000 or 5,000, a central air conditioner is about 3,500, and the refrigerator rows use an average draw, 60 watts for a modern one and 150 for an older one, because the compressor cycles on and off and the nameplate figure is the draw while it runs, not the average over the day. The watts for any appliance are on its label, usually near the cord or on the back, and the label figure is the running draw, which is the number to enter, except for cycling appliances, where the average is the number that matters. The hours are the hours it actually runs, not the hours it is plugged in: a heater with a thermostat cycles, so 8 hours plugged in may be 5 hours of element-on time, and the calculator prices the hours you enter, so enter the element-on hours if you know them. The days are the days per week it runs, and they matter, because a dryer used 5 days a week costs five-sevenths of a dryer used every day, and the month is the weekly figure times 52 divided by 12, which is about 4.33 weeks, not 30 days of use.

Step 2 — Or price it from the yellow label

Fridges, freezers, dishwashers, washers, water heaters, and air conditioners carry a yellow EnergyGuide label with an estimated kWh per year, and that figure is the honest input for them, because it already accounts for the cycling, and the nameplate watts would overstate the cost. A new 18-cubic-foot top-freezer is labelled at about 405 kWh a year, which costs $73.55 a year at 18.16 cents, or $6.13 a month, and an older refrigerator at 1,100 kWh a year costs $199.76 a year, or $16.65 a month, and the difference is $126.21 a year, which is the saving from replacing the old one. The calculator below shows the label mode beside the watts mode, so the two can be compared, and the label mode is the one to trust for any appliance that carries the label, because the label is measured, and the watts are rated.

The ledger

A HEAVY LOAD

A 1,500-watt space heater running 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 18.16 cents per kWh uses 1.5 kWh an hour, 12 kWh a day, 84 kWh a week, 364 kWh a month, and 4,368 kWh a year, and it costs $0.27 an hour, $2.18 a day, $15.25 a week, $66.10 a month, and $793.23 a year, which is 31.6 percent of the average American electric bill of $209.23 a month. The same heater in Hawaii, at 47.18 cents, costs $171.74 a month, and in Nevada, at 12.72 cents, it costs $46.30, which is 3.71 times less for the identical heater and the identical hours, because the rate is the price. A new refrigerator labelled at 405 kWh a year costs $73.55 a year, or $6.13 a month, at the same rate, which is the label mode, and which is the figure to trust for any appliance that carries the yellow sticker.

What twelve appliances cost at your rate

The table is priced live at the rate above, so changing the rate re-prices every row, and clicking a row loads that appliance into the calculator. The figures use the typical watts and hours shown, a 52-divided-by-12-week month, and the rate you entered. The three that matter are the heater, the water heater, and the air conditioner, because they are the only rows that reach $66, $74, and $154 a month, and everything else is under $28, and the television, the laptop, and the LED bulb together cost less than $7 a month, which is the point of the table: the bill is not spread evenly across the house, it is concentrated in the three appliances that heat and cool, and the rest is rounding.

The same heater, in every state

The same 1,500-watt heater, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, 364 kWh a month, priced at each state's average residential rate from the EIA's August 2026 table. Hawaii pays $171.74 a month for the identical heater that costs $46.30 in Nevada, which is 3.71 times more, and California pays $108.29, Maine $116.88, and New York $104.29, while Texas pays $57.91, Louisiana $46.85, and North Dakota $48.45. The spread is the reason the state picker matters, and the reason the national average is only a starting point: the average is 18.16 cents and $66.10 a month, but no state pays the average, and the household in Hawaii pays two and a half times the household in Nevada for the same warmth, which is the rate, not the heater, and which is why the first thing to check on a high bill is the rate on the bill, not the appliances in the house.

State rates are the EIA's August 2026 residential averages, Table 5.6.A, which are total revenue divided by total kilowatt-hours sold, so they include fixed charges and are statewide averages, not single tariffs. Your own bill's effective rate is the total divided by the kWh used, and it is the rate to enter above if you want the calculator to price your house rather than your state.

The number to carry out of this page is the monthly cost, because the monthly cost is the line on the bill, and the line to compare against the $209.23 average, and the line that tells you whether the appliance is a trickle, a steady draw, a heavy load, or the bill eater. A space heater at $66.10 a month is a heavy load, and a central air conditioner at $154.24 a month is the bill eater, and a television at $4.13 a month is a trickle, and the three together are $224.47 a month, which is more than the average bill, which is the point: the bill is not the sum of many small lines, it is the sum of two or three large ones, and the largest line is the one to fix first, and the fix is usually the hours, not the appliance, because cutting the heater from 8 hours to 4 cuts the cost from $66.10 to $33.05 a month, which is $396.61 a year saved, and which is the cheapest efficiency measure there is, because it costs nothing, and it starts tonight.