Energy bills: How much does it cost to…?

Don’t feel bad about using your toaster – even if you ditched it and always had cereal, you’d save less than a fiver over the year.

Average usage: Once a day for 4 minutes
Amount of energy used per week: 0.51 kWh
Cost per week: 9p

Using your shower for just five minutes a day will cost 15p per day, and bear in mind that family households will be showering for longer than just a few minutes each morning. Showers also cost you money if you’re on a water metre. Have a read of our guide to cutting your water bill to find out ways to save.

Average usage: 5 minutes a day
Amount of energy used per week: 5.83 kWh
Cost per week: £1.05

We can’t live without our phones and often leave our chargers plugged in all day and night, even when our phones aren’t attached. Of course, wasting energy is never good, but even if you do this every night for a week, it’ll cost you less than a penny.

Average usage: Left switched on all day
Amount of energy used per week: 0.025 kWh
Cost per week: 0.4p

Would you have guessed that the most expensive appliance you use is your oven? Using it for one hour a day will cost you £127.92 over a year. If you’re serious about saving, you could try cooking two meals in the oven at the same time, then just microwaving the spare one the next day. Microwaving for 10 minutes instead of oven cooking for an hour saves a massive 12.39 kWh per week, which works out as £2.24.

Average usage: 1 hour every day
Amount of energy used per week: 13.65 kWh
Cost per week: £2.46

When you consider that it costs more to run your kids’ X Box than it does to wash your clothes, it seems like quite a lot of energy! Limit their play-time to alternate days a week – or only on the weekend to make savings.

Average usage: 2 hours per day
Amount of energy used per week: 2.38
Cost per week: 43p

If only we didn’t have to do ironing – we’d save time and money!

Average usage: 2.5 hours per week
Amount of energy used per week: 3 kWh
Cost per week: 54p

Who knew that your hairdryer uses more energy than your tumble dryer? If you can live without it three days a week, you’ll save £10.25 over the year.

Average usage: 10 minutes per day
Amount of energy used per week: 2.56 kWh
Cost per week: 46p

Unfortunately, our fridge-freezers do need to be turned on 24 hours a day, so there’s no way to save there! But you can make yours more efficient by:
– ensuring your freezer is well stocked, but not filling it right up (as the air needs to circulate)
– pulling it away from the wall slightly – removing any dust from the coils on the back

Average usage: 24 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 7.82 kWh
Cost per week: £1.41

A Nintendo Wii can be great fun for the whole family and actually uses the lowest amount of energy out of all the games consoles we looked at.

Average usage: 2 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 0.31 kWh
Cost per week: 6p

Do you use your laptop to watch On Demand TV? If you spend two hours a day doing this on a 15″ screen laptop, it’ll cost you 11.3p per week.

Average usage: 2 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 0.63 kWh
Cost per week: 11p

Using the microwave is a very cost-effective way to heat your food. It saves loads of energy compared to cooking by oven (and it’s quicker). However, if you leave yours on standby, you could be wasting energy just by powering the clock. Try turning it off at the wall when it’s not in use.

Average usage: 9 minutes a day
Amount of energy used per week: 1.26 kWh
Cost per week: 22p

If you use a 60w bulb for 4 hours a day, it’ll cost you 30p per week. You can save by switching to energy-saving light bulbs. According to first-utility.com, for each energy-saving bulb you fit you’ll save £9 per year. Energy-saving bulbs last 12 times longer than normal ones, too.

Average usage: 4 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 1.68 kWh
Cost per week: 30p

We’re not suggesting that you stop vacuuming, but if you wanted an excuse not to vacuum this week, you’d save 35p!

Average usage: 90 minutes per week
Amount of energy used per week: 1.95 kWh (based on a Dyson-brand vacuum)
Cost per week: 35p

Do you turn your TV and Sky HD box off when you’re not using them? Maybe you should…

Average usage: 8 hours per day
Amount of energy used per week: 2.07 kWh
Cost per week: 37p

You can save energy washing your clothes by washing at 30 degrees instead of 40, choosing shorter washes and just by getting an extra wear out of your clothes before you wash them.

Average usage: 4 times a week
Amount of energy used per week: 2.24 kWh
Cost per week: 41p

On average, we use our tumble dryers twice a week, for half an hour a time, on a high heat. Instead, try drying your clothes on the line or on an indoor drying rack. Even in the winter your clothes will dry – just put them in an unused room, open the window and close the door. If you are going to use the tumble dryer, invest in some Dryer Balls (less than £10 from B&Q or Homebase). They get hot inside your tumble dryer and therefore help your clothes dry faster.

Average usage: 1 hour per week
Amount of energy used per week: 2.5 kWh
Cost per week: 45p

The most energy-guzzling of all the games consoles we looked at – a Playstation 3 will cost you £32.92 over the year.

Average usage: 2 hours per day
Amount of energy used per week: 3.5 kWh
Cost per week: 63p

Simply turning your TV off at the wall when you’re not watching it will save you around 0.12 kWh per week, which works out at £1.12 over the year. It’s probably worth it for the effort of walking to the wall and pressing a button, especially if you have more than one TV in your house.

Average usage: 6.5 hours a day turned on; 17.5 hours a day on standby.
Amount of energy used per week: 6.65 kWh for a plasma screen; 6.8 kWh for an LCD screen
Cost per week: £1.20 for a plasma screen; £1.23 for an LCD TV

Wow – three cups of a tea a day is costing us £49.38 a year! Could you cut back to just two cups to save £16.46? Make sure you’re never boiling more water than you need, too.

Average usage: 3 times a day
Amount of energy used per week: 5.25 kWh
Cost per week: 94p

Do you rely on your coffee machine to get you through the morning? The average machine is used for 2 hours each day, which costs £23.68 a year.

Average usage: 2 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 2.53 kWh
Cost per week: 46p

Despite being used for 24 hours a day throughout the year, the energy required for the fridge isn’t one of your biggest costs. It only works out at £26.21 for the whole year – so if you’re hoping to cut energy costs, we wouldn’t recommend you start with the fridge!

Average usage: 24 hours a day
Amount of energy used per week: 2.8 kWh
Cost per week: 50p