It’s a well-known fact that generally the older the appliance, the more expensive it is to run. With energy prices set to go through the roof, it pays to look at how much energy individual appliances around the home are consuming.
The Daily Express reports David Miles, 46, from Essex decided to do just that, and bought a basic smart plug to track how much energy each appliance in his home uses. He plugged it into the socket for each appliance, then monitored energy performance via an app on his phone.
He was in for a shock when he used the plug on his 25-year-old American-style fridge freezer. “Incredibly, it ate up a fifth of my entire electricity bill,” he said.
It was using a staggering 1,600 kilowatt hours (kWh) of power each year, and David added: “That’s the same as our friend’s hot tub.” At the moment his fridge is costing £448 a year to run, but with October’s price rises driving up costs, the amount will be a staggering £832 a year.
Which appliances in your home use a lot of energy at a time when everyone is trying to save money?
(Image: Getty Images)
New fridge freezers cost between £350 and £2,000, depending on the make and model, but David considers buying a new one a good investment. A brand new one will use a maximum of 400 kWh of electricity each year, which will cost him £208 a year when prices jump.
“That will save me at least £624 a year, so upgrading my fridge freezer will pay for itself in two or three years, plus I will also slash my home’s carbon footprint,” he said.
Tumble dryers have been shown to be the most expensive appliance to run, costing the average household more than £262 a year from October. American-style fridge freezers are the next biggest energy guzzler, costing on average £223 a year to run from the autumn.
The older the appliance, the less energy efficient it is likely to be. Freestanding and integrated fridge freezer models tend to be smaller and because of this, significantly cheaper to run, costing £157.73 and £134.47 a year respectively from October, based on Which? figures.
David, who lives with wife Jane, 48, and daughter Enfys, 17, and Alfie, 14, is bracing himself for October’s energy price rise, when he expects to spend £430 a month on electricity alone, with gas bills on top. He plans to upgrade his gas boiler which he reckons will cost £4,000 but cut his gas bills by 20%.
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