Cost to run a kettle
Each 3 minutes use of a kettle drawing 3,000 W costs 3.95p at 26.32p/kWh. Used 5 uses a day of 3 minutes, every day, that comes to £6.00 a month.
Each use costs
3.95p a use
That is 0.15 kWh. Used as set, it comes to £6.00 a month and £72.05 a year.
On the label or in the manual.
Standby, thermostats and off-peak use
Drawn while plugged in and not running.
| Period | Cost | Energy | CO2e |
|---|---|---|---|
| A use | 3.95p | 0.15 kWh | 33 g |
| A day, on average | 19.7p | 0.75 kWh | 163 g |
| A month | £6.00 | 22.8 kWh | 5 kg |
| A year | £72.05 | 274 kWh | 59.5 kg |
How we calculated this
Energy is power multiplied by time: 3,000 W for 3 minutes uses 0.15 kWh each time.
The starting use for a kettle, 5 uses a day of 3 minutes, every day, is where the calculator starts, not a measurement of your home: change it to how you use yours. A day is the average across the week, and a month is a twelfth of a 365-day year.
Electricity costs 26.32p/kWh. That is the published figure for the United Kingdom, 1 Oct – 31 Dec 2026, from Ofgem. Average for England, Scotland and Wales, paying by Direct Debit. No VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.
Standing charges are left out: you pay them whether or not the appliance runs.
Emissions use 0.217 kg CO2e per kWh, the lifecycle intensity of electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2025, from Ember, via Our World in Data. Lifecycle means building the power stations and supplying their fuel are counted too. It is the grid’s average, not the particular power station an extra appliance brings on.
What drives the cost
A kettle is a heating element in a jug, so it draws a lot of power, 3,000 W, but only for a few minutes at a time. A boil of 3 minutes uses 0.15 kWh and costs 3.95p; it is the number of boils, not the kettle, that adds up.
Also called: electric kettle.
What it costs in the UK, Europe and the US
For a kettle used as typical (5 uses a day of 3 minutes, every day), at each country’s published average electricity price.
| Country | Electricity price | A use |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 26.32p/kWh | 3.95p |
| United States (average) | 18.19¢/kWh | 2.73¢ |
| Ireland | €0.4042/kWh | €0.061 |
| Germany | 0,3869 €/kWh | 0,058 € |
| France | 0,2561 €/kWh | 0,038 € |
| Spain | 0,2669 €/kWh | 0,04 € |
| Italy | 0,2966 €/kWh | 0,044 € |
| Netherlands | € 0,2558/kWh | € 0,038 |
Compared with similar appliances
| Appliance | Typical power | An hour | A year, typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kettle | 3,000 W | 79p | £72.05 |
| Toaster | 1,000 W | 26.3p | £4.80 |
| Coffee maker | 1,050 W | 27.6p | £16.81 |
| Microwave oven | 1,000 W | 26.3p | £16.01 |
How to spend less on it
- Boil only the water you need. The element heats everything in the jug, so filling it for one mug wastes energy every time.
- Descale it now and then: a scaled-up element takes longer to heat the same water.
- If you make several hot drinks together, boil once and fill a flask rather than boiling again for each.
Questions
How much does a kettle cost to run per hour?
At 26.32p/kWh, a kettle drawing 3,000 W costs 79p for every hour of running at full power.
How much does a kettle cost to run a year?
Used 5 uses a day of 3 minutes, every day, it costs about £72.05 a year at 26.32p/kWh, or £6.00 a month.
How much does one boil of the kettle cost?
A boil of 3 minutes costs 3.95p at 26.32p/kWh. A full kettle takes longer and costs more; a single cup takes less.
Sources
- How much electricity am I using?, Centre for Sustainable Energy, July 2026. “Kettle (3000 W)”
- How much electricity am I using?, Centre for Sustainable Energy, July 2026. “no one boils a kettle for an hour at a time, or puts on the fridge for 10 minutes”
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