Appliance Running Cost Calculator Australia
Work out exactly what your fridge, air conditioner, heater or any other appliance costs to run, in Australian dollars using your own electricity rate, not a preset one.
How this calculator works: Enter an appliance's power rating in watts, how long you use it, and the electricity rate from your own bill. The calculator works out its cost per day, week, month and year, and you can add as many appliances as you like to build a running list and compare them side by side.
Add an Appliance
Check the compliance plate, sticker, manual or box. If it's shown in kilowatts (kW), multiply by 1000 first.
This field is always blank until you type your own rate. Find it on your electricity bill, usually shown as cents per kWh.
Your Appliances
No appliances added yet. Fill in the form above and press “Add Appliance & Calculate” to see costs here.
| Appliance | kWh/day | Daily cost | Weekly cost | Monthly cost | Annual cost |
|---|
What This Appliance Running Cost Calculator Does
This calculator answers one specific question, appliance by appliance: what does it actually cost to run this thing? Enter the wattage, how many hours a day and days a week it's used, and your own electricity rate, and it converts that into kilowatt-hours and dollars per day, per week, per month and per year. Add more appliances and it keeps a running list, with a combined total across everything you've entered, so you can see at a glance which appliances are driving your electricity usage.
It's built for Australian households specifically, uses Australian dollars and cents, and never assumes a rate on your behalf. Every calculation happens in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere or stored on a server.
The Appliance Running Cost Formula
The calculation behind every result on this page is straightforward:
Multiply the daily cost by 7 for a weekly figure, by roughly 30.4 for a monthly figure, or by 365 for an annual figure though this calculator does that for you automatically once you include how many days a week the appliance is actually used, since many appliances aren't run every single day.
Worked Examples
Example 1: a portable heater
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Convert to kW | 2,000 W ÷ 1,000 | 2 kW |
| Energy used | 2 kW × 4 hours | 8 kWh |
| Cost (at 30 c/kWh) | 8 kWh × 30 ÷ 100 | $2.40 per day of use |
Used 5 days a week, that's about $12.00 a week, roughly $52.00 a month, and around $624.00 a year a meaningful cost for a single appliance run through a cold season.
Example 2: a laptop charger left on standby
A charger drawing 2 watts, left plugged in 24 hours a day, uses 2 ÷ 1,000 × 24 = 0.048 kWh per day. At 30 c/kWh that's about 1.4 cents a day small on its own, but multiplied across several always-on devices in a household, standby power can add up over a year.
Finding an Appliance's Power Rating
Most appliances show their power rating in one of these places:
- The compliance plate or rating sticker, usually on the back, base or inside the door of the appliance.
- The user manual, often in a specifications table near the front or back.
- The box or original packaging, if you still have it.
- The product listing on the retailer's or manufacturer's website, under specifications.
Power is usually shown in watts (W). If it's shown in kilowatts (kW), multiply by 1,000 before entering it here (for example, 2 kW = 2,000 W). Some appliances show a range or multiple settings (low/medium/high) use the setting that matches how you actually use it.
Which Household Appliances Cost the Most to Run?
As a general pattern, appliances that generate heat or cold tend to cost the most, especially when run for long stretches:
- Reverse-cycle air conditioners and space heaters
- Electric hot water systems, especially storage tanks
- Clothes dryers
- Ovens and cooktops, particularly older or larger models
Appliances that move air, light a room or power small electronics generally cost far less per hour, even though some run continuously:
- Fans
- LED lighting
- TVs, routers and small electronics
The exact ranking for your home depends on wattage, hours of use and your own electricity rate, which is exactly what this calculator is for add your own appliances rather than relying on a generic list.
Air Conditioners and Heaters
Air conditioners and heaters are usually the biggest seasonal swing in a household's running costs. A few things to keep in mind when calculating theirs:
- The compliance plate often lists cooling and heating wattage separately use the one matching the season you're calculating for.
- Reverse-cycle systems cycle on and off to maintain temperature, so continuous full-power draw for the whole time period will usually overstate the real cost. Treat the calculator's result as an upper estimate unless you know the unit's average draw.
- Room size, insulation, outdoor temperature and thermostat setting all affect how hard the unit has to work, so identical units in different rooms can have very different real-world costs.
Fridges and Other Always-On Appliances
A fridge or freezer runs 24 hours a day, but its compressor cycles on and off rather than drawing full wattage constantly. If your fridge has an energy rating label showing an estimated annual kWh figure, that figure is usually a more accurate starting point than calculating from wattage and 24 hours. You can still use this calculator by entering the label's annual kWh divided by 365 as an approximate daily figure, or by using the wattage and hours as a rough upper estimate.
Standby Power: The Cost of "Off" That Isn't Really Off
Many appliances and chargers draw a small amount of power even when switched off at the device but left plugged into a powerpoint. Individually this is often just a few watts, but across a household with many devices TVs, game consoles, chargers, routers, microwaves with clocks it adds up over a full year. If you know or can measure a device's standby wattage, add it to this calculator as its own entry with 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to see its annual cost.
Why This Calculator Doesn't Fill In a Rate for You
Some electricity tools automatically load a government reference rate, a Default Market Offer or Victorian Default Offer figure, or a retailer's advertised rate, and calculate your result from that. This calculator deliberately doesn't do that, for one simple reason: those figures are not what most households actually pay. Australian electricity rates vary by state, distribution area, retailer, tariff and individual contract, so a state-wide or "default" figure can be meaningfully different from your real rate.
Instead, this calculator always asks you to type in the rate from your own bill. It takes an extra few seconds, and it means every dollar figure you see reflects what you're actually being charged, not an assumption made on your behalf.
Comparing Appliances Side by Side
Once you've added more than one appliance using the same electricity rate, the table above lets you compare them directly: which one uses more kWh per day, which one costs more per year, and how much they add up to together. This is often more useful than looking at any single appliance in isolation, because it shows where your usage is actually concentrated sometimes a "small" appliance used constantly costs more over a year than a "big" one used rarely.
Practical Ways to Cut Appliance Running Costs
- Target your biggest entries first. Whatever sits at the top of your list once you've added your main appliances is usually the best place to focus.
- Match usage to need. Running a heater or air conditioner for fewer hours, or at a less extreme temperature setting, reduces both hours used and effective wattage.
- Full loads, not half loads. Washing machines, dishwashers and dryers cost roughly the same to run whether full or half-full, so fuller loads use electricity more efficiently.
- Check standby devices. Turning off power boards for devices not in use removes their standby draw entirely.
- Recalculate after any change. If you switch plans or your rate changes, re-enter it here to see the updated cost for the same appliances.
More Electricity Calculators on This Site
If you'd like to check how a specific appliance affects your solar household's usage, the appliance running cost calculator breaks down daily, weekly and annual running costs from an appliance's wattage. If you're in Victoria, the electricity cost calculator for Victoria covers the state's own pricing framework in more detail. For the underlying method behind any of these tools, see how to calculate electricity cost, or use the general electricity cost calculator if your household doesn't have solar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an appliance running cost calculator?
It is a tool that works out how much a single appliance costs to run, in dollars, based on its power rating in watts, how long you use it, and your own electricity rate in cents per kWh.
How do I calculate the running cost of an appliance?
Divide the appliance's watts by 1000 to get kilowatts, multiply by the hours it runs to get kWh, then multiply by your electricity rate in cents per kWh and divide by 100 to get the cost in dollars.
Where do I find an appliance's power rating?
Check the compliance plate or sticker on the back or base of the appliance, the user manual, or the box it came in. Power is usually shown in watts (W) or sometimes kilowatts (kW).
Does this calculator use a fixed Australian electricity rate?
No. This calculator never fills in a government, retailer or state average rate for you. You always enter your own electricity rate in cents per kWh, taken from your electricity bill, so the result reflects your actual plan.
Why does the calculator ask for days used per week as well as hours per day?
Many appliances aren't used every day. Entering both hours per day and days per week lets the calculator work out a realistic weekly, monthly and annual cost instead of assuming daily use.
Which household appliances cost the most to run?
Appliances that generate heat or cold for long periods, such as reverse-cycle air conditioners, electric heaters, electric hot water systems and clothes dryers, generally cost the most to run. Small electronics and LED lighting usually cost much less per hour.
How can I compare the running cost of two appliances?
Add each appliance to the calculator using the same electricity rate. The list shows each appliance's daily, weekly, monthly and annual cost side by side, so you can see which one costs more to run.
Does standby power cost anything?
Yes. Many appliances draw a small amount of power even when switched off at the appliance but left plugged in. If you know the standby wattage, you can enter it as a separate appliance with 24 hours a day to estimate its yearly cost.
Is the appliance running cost calculator accurate?
It is as accurate as the figures you enter. The power rating on the compliance plate is often a maximum, so real-world usage can be lower, especially for appliances that cycle on and off such as fridges and air conditioners.
How do I calculate the running cost of an air conditioner?
Enter the air conditioner's power rating in watts (check the compliance plate, which usually shows cooling and heating wattage separately), the hours and days you run it, and your electricity rate. Air conditioners often cycle on and off, so actual usage may be lower than the rated wattage suggests.
How do I calculate the running cost of a fridge?
A fridge runs for 24 hours a day but cycles on and off, so its rated wattage isn't its constant draw. If your fridge lists an annual kWh figure on its energy rating label, that is usually more accurate than calculating from wattage and hours.
What's the difference between watts and kilowatt-hours?
Watts (W) measure the rate of power an appliance draws while it's running. Kilowatt-hours (kWh) measure the total energy used over time, and that is what appears on your electricity bill and what you're billed for.
Sources
Content reviewed September 2026. This page describes a general, widely used method for estimating appliance electricity cost (watts → kW → kWh → cost); it isn't tied to any government dataset because it always uses the rate you enter. For general Australian energy information and appliance efficiency, see energy.gov.au and the Energy Rating website, which lists official energy label estimates for many appliance categories.
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