Electric Range
If you cook for three hours a day, every day, you’re probably spending about $20 worth of energy. Electric ranges have an average wattage of 1,900 watts, and the cost per hour to operate them sits at $0.22.
Is there a way to reduce costs? Sure, if you use fewer burners at a lower intensity. However, this is not always easy seeing as you’re, well, cooking either breakfast lunch and dinner and it’s not like you can easily sacrifice one of the burners.
Still, it’s useful information to keep in mind if you do want to cut costs while cooking.
Refrigerator
Now here’s a tricky one! Fridges – can’t turn them off, can you? With an average wattage of 225 watts, it costs around $0.03 per hour to operate. But since these things are on literally 24/7, the costs can add up pretty quickly and you’ll end up spending more money on the electricity your fridge uses as opposed to a space heater which you can turn off at any time.
Annually, you’ll pay around $262.80. So what can you do to reduce those costs? Well, there are several tricks you can employ. You could decide what you want from the fridge instead of standing there with the door open, allowing all the cool air in and warm air out.
Secondly, make sure all your food is covered in order to avoid moisture. Moisture will make the compressor work harder, meaning more energy usage.
Also, do you have the right fridge for your family? It’s better to have a full refrigerator instead of a huge one that is half-empty! And what about households who use two? If neither of them are packed, consider moving everything from one fridge to the other and getting rid of the second one.
Or you could get rid of both of them and buy a bigger fridge for the same results- plus, newer ones work better and consume less energy than older ones. So, while this may be a bigger investment, it’ll be well worth it in the long run.
