Question

Are there any website that will put in perspective how much electricity costs?

Answer 1

If you want real numbers you need to figure it out with your own data. Electricity costs vary a lot. Places in CA can be as high as $0.25 per kWh (kilo watt hour) to very low in some communities my area 0.04 per KWh. So, look at your latest electicity bill to get the rate for you. Let’s call it 0.10 per kWh. That means it costs you 10 cents to run a 1 kW appliance for 1 hour. Or a 100 W light bulb for 10 hours. Or 50 Watt for 20 hours. (Watts x hours) See the pattern? Now look at the applance you want to study. A Charger – look at the specs. It will say something like “7 watts”. So, it costs 10 cents to run it for 1000/7 = 141 hours. A TV can be 200 Watts 10 cents for 5 hours And so on around the house. There is a device called Kill-A-Watt that will do this for you. You plug it in the wall socket and then plug the appliance into it. The unit will keep track and tell you what it costs. Borrow one and give it a try. My neighbor and I shared one and have lent it to many people. You really don’t need one all the time. I’m glad you are at least thinking about the cost of energy. It’s important. By the way, if you live in a hot climate and have A/C (we don’t) you should double the price of the energy cost. Your A/C has to work harder to get rid of the heat from the appliance. But that is another discussion.