How Much Is Your Toaster Costing You?

Take a look around your home – the chances are that every room will be crammed with electrical appliances.

From the TV and set top box in your living room, to games consoles for the children, cooker in the kitchen, alarm clock in the bedroom, the list is simply endless.

On a daily basis, all of these appliances consume a significant amount of energy. Therefore, it seems important to install energy-efficient appliances. To find out how much power is being consumed by every appliance in the home, homeowners may need to know their home energy scores (click https://bendhes.com/what-is-a-home-energy-score/ to learn more about energy scores). Based on the scores, homeowners can repair or replace inefficient appliances if necessary, which could further reduce their energy bills.

When purchasing an appliance, the initial cost is not the only expense to consider. The amount of electricity the item will use can significantly increase the total cost. To save money, it is best to purchase energy-efficient appliances. This is especially important for long-running appliances, such as air conditioners, which tend to use a high amount of power for extended periods of time. When purchasing an air conditioner (or any appliance), make sure to buy an energy-efficient model and have it installed by a qualified firm that specializes in air conditioning installation in Snohomish, WA (or a similar one nearby) so that it is installed correctly and runs efficiently.

Experts now believe as much as 16% of electricity used is from appliances on standby, a total of 86 on an annual bill of 530. This means that by simply getting better at switching things off, it should be possible to slice a sixth off your electricity bill.

A great deal has been written recently about the cost of not switching electrical appliances off completely but a new report, commissioned jointly by government departments together with the Energy Saving Trust, has found that the actual amount of wastage is far higher than previously thought.

As well as measuring the cost of not switching appliances off, researchers investigated how much every item cost to run per year, based on average costs. The study took into account 250 households and was based on an electricity cost of 14.5p per kWh.

So, what did the study reveal to be the most expensive electrical item to run?

You could be forgiven for thinking that a large item such as a freezer, which is left running permanently, would eat up the most electricity. However, in actual fact a luxury item which costs a lot of money to purchase is also one of the biggest culprits for hiking up the bill.

A plasma flat screen TV might look fabulous but the running costs will leave a dent in your bank balance. Researchers calculated that a plasma TV costs a whopping 96 per year to run, a third more than an upright fridge freezer, which came in at 62. It also costs more than three times the running cost of an LCD TV which costs just 29 per year, or more than five times more than an old-style CRT TV, which is just 17 to run per year.

You might well complain about the amount of time the children spend on their games console but the study showed the running costs were between just 6 and 9 per annum.

The second piece of equipment which has the most expensive running costs was a dehumidifier, which cost 76 per year to run, far more than an oven and a hob, which worked out at just 46, despite being an essential item of equipment used on most days.

The buffs even took into account the smallest electrical items such as clock radios and hairdryers, which eat up just 3 per year each. Hair straighteners and baby monitors were amongst the cheapest appliances to run, costing 1 apiece per annum.

And the humble toaster? Well, for a years’ worth of golden brown deliciously tasty toast, you can expect to pay 3.18.

Understanding how you can cut back on your utility bill expenditure can be very helpful if you are struggling to keep up with ever increasing household bills.

However, if you are finding it harder to keep up with all your monthly bills, it could be worth seeking professional help. For one, you could have an Electrician Gordon (or a similar professional where you live) take a look at all your appliances to help you figure out if any of those are taking up more electricity than required.

Furthermore, by consolidating debts such as credit cards, catalogue accounts, overdrafts, and payday loans into one easier-to-manage monthly repayment, you could have a little more in your pocket to cover the costs of skyrocketing utility bills.

If you’re interested in consolidating your debts, you could speak to a professional debt company such as Baines and Ernst who could provide more information on how to do this. They could also tell you how much you could expect to cut your repayments by every month.

In the meantime, make sure you unplug all appliances when they’re not in use to keep your costs as low as possible.