How much does it cost to run an electric kettle in the UK?
Price updated 9 July 2026 · Q3 2026 (Jul–Sep)
A typical electric kettle (3,000 W) used 9 minutes a day, every day costs about £3.57 a month (£42.89 a year) at 26.11p/kWh.
Kettles are near-universal in UK homes and almost always rated close to 3,000W — the maximum a standard plug allows. They only run for a couple of minutes at a time, but a heavy tea-drinking household can boil a kettle a dozen times a day. The single biggest waste is boiling far more water than you need: heating a full 1.7 litre kettle to make one mug uses several times the energy required. Descaling also matters, because limescale slows heating and wastes power.
Work out your own cost
About £3.57 a month · £42.89 a year
Uses about 164 kWh a year. Prefilled with the Ofgem cap of 26.11p/kWh — edit any box for your own figures.
Cost by model power
The same electric kettle can vary a lot between models, so here is the range from a low-power to a high-power example.
| Model | Power | Per hour | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-power model | 2,200 W | 57p | 8.6p | £2.62 | £31.45 |
| Typical model | 3,000 W | 78p | 12p | £3.57 | £42.89 |
| High-power model | 3,000 W | 78p | 12p | £3.57 | £42.89 |
What changes the cost
- How much water you boil vs how much you use
- Number of boils per day
- Limescale build-up slowing the element
- Reboiling water that has gone cold
Common questions
Does boiling a full kettle cost more?
Yes — energy scales with the amount of water heated, so boiling a full kettle for one mug can use three to four times the electricity needed.
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