What Uses the Most Electricity at Home? The Big Users and How to Find Yours

The things that use the most electricity at home are appliances that make heat (electric showers, immersion heaters, tumble dryers, electric heaters, ovens and kettles) and appliances that run around the clock (fridges, freezers, and devices that never fully switch off). The Energy Saving Trust estimates that washing machines, dishwashers and tumble dryers together make up around 14% of a typical bill, with fridges and freezers at around 13%. Your own list depends on how you live, so the most reliable answer comes from measuring.

The short answer: power multiplied by time

An appliance's cost is not about how big or noisy it is. It comes down to two numbers: how much power it draws (in watts) and how long it draws it (in hours). Multiply them and you get energy, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is what your bill charges for:

• kWh = watts × hours ÷ 1,000
• Cost = kWh × your unit rate

That is why a 3,000 W kettle that runs for three minutes can cost less over a day than a 100 W games console left on for six hours. And it is why something that draws only a few watts can still add up if it runs 8,760 hours a year.

For prices in this guide we use the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026: an average electricity unit rate of 26.32p per kWh for Direct Debit customers in England, Scotland and Wales (Ofgem). In the EU, the average household price was around €0.28 per kWh in the first half of 2026, according to Eurostat data reported by the Brussels Times. Use the rate on your own bill for real decisions.

The usual big users, by type

Things that make heat

Turning electricity into heat takes a lot of power. Anything with a heating element is a candidate for your top three:

• Electric showers are often the single biggest plug-free load in UK homes that have them. One third-party estimate puts a typical electric shower at around 1,460 kWh a year; estimates vary with shower power, family size and shower length.
• Tumble dryers heat air for an hour or more per load. Third-party annual estimates range widely, from roughly 370 to 675 kWh a year.
• Electric heaters, storage heaters and immersion heaters can dominate a bill in homes that rely on them, because they run for hours at 1–3 kW.
• Ovens, hobs and kettles draw high power in short bursts. They matter if you use them a lot.
• Washing machines and dishwashers spend most of their energy heating water, which is why lower-temperature cycles make a difference.

Things that never switch off

Fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers run all year. Each one draws modest power, but the hours add up. Third-party estimates for a fridge-freezer range from about 290 to 425 kWh a year, depending on size, age and efficiency. An old second fridge in a garage can be a surprise entry on your list.

Always-on electronics belong here too: routers, set-top boxes, smart speakers, and anything sitting in standby. Individually small, collectively noticeable. Our guide to standby power covers how much this really is.

Things that are on for hours

TVs, desktop computers, gaming PCs, consoles and monitors draw a moderate amount but are often on for long stretches. A powerful gaming PC used every evening can easily outspend a kettle over a year.

Typical annual use and cost

Estimates vary widely between sources and between homes, so treat these as rough ranges, not targets. Costs are calculated at 26.32p per kWh.

The arithmetic for the hypothetical rows: kettle 3 kW × 0.05 h × 5 × 365 = 273.75 kWh; gaming PC 0.3 kW × 3 h × 365 = 328.5 kWh; TV 0.1 kW × 5 h × 365 = 182.5 kWh. Multiply each by £0.2632 for the cost.

Plug-in vs hard-wired: what you can actually measure

This split matters because it decides how you can find out what each appliance uses.

Plug-in appliances (fridges, dryers, kettles, TVs, computers, portable heaters) can be measured directly with a plug-in energy meter or a smart plug that monitors energy. You get the real number for your appliance, used your way.

Hard-wired appliances (electric showers, ovens and hobs, immersion heaters, most built-in boilers, ceiling lights, storage heaters on their own circuit) cannot be measured with anything that goes into a socket. For these, use your electricity meter or smart meter in-home display, and the switch-off method below. Never try to fit a plug to a hard-wired appliance; that is a job for a qualified electrician, if it is appropriate at all.

How to find your own biggest users

This takes a week or two and needs no special skills.

1. Get your baseline. Look at your last few bills or your smart meter display and note your average daily kWh. This is the number you are trying to explain.
2. Check the always-on load. Late at night, with everything you normally leave on still on, read the live power on your smart meter display (or take two meter readings an hour apart). That figure, running 24 hours a day, is your background load.
3. List your heat-makers. Write down every appliance with a heating element and roughly how often you use it.
4. Measure the plug-in suspects. Put a plug-in meter or monitoring smart plug on one appliance at a time: the fridge-freezer for a full week, the dryer for a few loads, the TV and console setup for a typical week.
5. Estimate the hard-wired ones. For an electric shower or immersion heater, read your meter just before and just after use, with as little else running as possible.
6. Convert everything to kWh per year and rank it. Multiply a week's kWh by 52. Our guide to calculating appliance running cost walks through the maths.
7. Act on the top three first. Shorter cycles, lower temperatures, fewer hours, or replacing an inefficient old appliance usually beats chasing small savings.

For more detail on each measurement method, see how to measure appliance energy use.

Common mistakes

• Confusing watts with kWh. A high wattage only matters for as long as it runs. A 2,000 W hairdryer used for five minutes uses about 0.17 kWh (2,000 × 5 ÷ 60 ÷ 1,000); a 60 W lamp left on for four hours uses 0.24 kWh.
• Trusting the rating plate as a running figure. The number on the back of an appliance is usually its maximum draw. A fridge's compressor cycles on and off, so its average is far lower than its rating.
• Chasing phone chargers. Unplugging a charger saves very little. Focus on heat and hours.
• Forgetting the second fridge or freezer. Older units in garages and utility rooms are frequent culprits.
• Measuring for ten minutes. Appliances that cycle need at least a day, ideally a week, to give a meaningful figure.
• Ignoring the standing charge. Part of your bill is a fixed daily charge that no appliance change will touch. Our UK bill guide explains the split.

Where Wattly fits (and where it doesn't)

A Wattly smart plug is useful for step 4 above: plug it in between the socket and an appliance and the Tuya Smart app shows live watts, usage history in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly charts, and cost estimates. That makes it easy to see what your fridge-freezer, dryer or entertainment setup really uses over a normal week, and to schedule or switch things off once you know.

It will not measure hard-wired appliances such as electric showers, ovens, hobs or immersion heaters, and it is not a whole-home meter. It saves money only if you act on what it shows. If you plug in a high-power appliance, check that it is within the plug's rating: 13 A for the UK version, and 16 A (3,680 W) or 20 A (4,600 W) for the EU Schuko versions. See the product page for details.

Related reading

• Standby power explained
• How to measure appliance energy use
• How to reduce your electricity bill in the UK
• Space heater running cost