Cost to run a heated towel rail
A heated towel rail drawing 450 W costs 11.8p for each hour of running at 26.32p/kWh. Used 3 hours a day, every day, that comes to £10.81 a month.
An hour of running costs
11.8p an hour
That is 0.45 kWh. Used as set, it comes to £10.81 a month and £129.69 a year.
On the label or in the manual.
Standby, thermostats and off-peak use
A thermostat switches it on and off to hold a temperature. 100% if it runs flat out.
Drawn while plugged in and not running.
| Period | Cost | Energy | CO2e |
|---|---|---|---|
| An hour of running | 11.8p | 0.45 kWh | 98 g |
| A day, on average | 35.5p | 1.35 kWh | 294 g |
| A month | £10.81 | 41.1 kWh | 8.9 kg |
| A year | £129.69 | 493 kWh | 107 kg |
How we calculated this
Energy is power multiplied by time: 450 W running for an hour uses 0.45 kWh.
The starting use for a heated towel rail, 3 hours a day, 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 heated towel rail is a small heater: it draws 450 W whenever it is on, and every bit of that ends up as heat in the bathroom. It is often left on for hours to keep the room warm and the towels dry, which is where the cost comes from.
Also called: electric towel rail, towel warmer, heated towel radiator.
What it costs in the UK, Europe and the US
For a heated towel rail used as typical (3 hours a day, every day), at each country’s published average electricity price.
| Country | Electricity price | An hour |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 26.32p/kWh | 11.8p |
| United States (average) | 18.19¢/kWh | 8.19¢ |
| Ireland | €0.4042/kWh | €0.18 |
| Germany | 0,3869 €/kWh | 0,17 € |
| France | 0,2561 €/kWh | 0,12 € |
| Spain | 0,2669 €/kWh | 0,12 € |
| Italy | 0,2966 €/kWh | 0,13 € |
| Netherlands | € 0,2558/kWh | € 0,12 |
Compared with similar appliances
Every electric heater here turns each kWh it uses into a kWh of heat, so at 26.32p/kWh a kWh of heat costs the same whichever you run. A more powerful heater costs more an hour because it gives out more heat, not because it wastes any. Only a heat pump gets more heat from a kWh, because it moves heat in from outside rather than making it.
| Appliance | Typical power | An hour | A year, typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heated towel rail | 450 W | 11.8p | £129.69 |
| Space heater | 2,500 W | 65.8p | £548.96 |
| Oil-filled radiator | 2,000 W | 52.6p | £548.96 |
| Electric blanket | 100 W | 2.63p | £20.59 |
How to spend less on it
- Put it on a timer so it warms up before you need it and goes off afterwards, rather than running all day.
- Hang towels so they dry in the room’s air rather than relying on the rail to do all the work.
Questions
How much does a heated towel rail cost to run per hour?
At 26.32p/kWh, a heated towel rail drawing 450 W costs 11.8p for every hour of running at full power.
How much does a heated towel rail cost to run a year?
Used 3 hours a day, every day, it costs about £129.69 a year at 26.32p/kWh, or £10.81 a month.
Is it cheaper to leave a heated towel rail on all day?
Every hour it is on costs 11.8p, whether or not anything is drying on it, so leaving it on all day costs a full day of that. A timer that brings it on before you need it costs far less.
Sources
- How much electricity am I using?, Centre for Sustainable Energy, July 2026. “Towel rail (450 W)”
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