What Appliances Use the Most Electricity in a Household?

• Electrical appliances have become a must-have in every home and they’ve become popular in recent years, especially the modern ones with new tech-inspired features being packed with them. As a result of that, the energy consumption in every home has increased greatly, which has left many paying more than expected monthly on bills, thereby raising the big question; “What appliances use the most electricity in a household?” In this article, we’ll be discussing why these appliances have become so important that we cannot do without them.
• In this article, we’ll also be discussing the pros and cons of home appliances and how much energy they consume in a household.

Appliances have become very important in every household now and their importance cannot be overemphasized. They’ve been helpful in terms of the role they play in our respective lives. However, they’ve come at a cost and their usage means that we’ll have to spend money to keep enjoying the amazing things they bring to our lives. For many years now, people have hugely felt the impact these appliances have had on their bills, and as a result, have sought to find a way to reduce consumption. The question of what appliances consume the most energy has been around for a while and people are always very eager to know them and perhaps, reduce the consumption rates. The average electricity usage in the household is connected to electrical appliances. The honest truth is that, sometimes, the bills might be too overwhelming and people always get in one argument or the other with authorities over how much electricity bills they always have to settle at the end of the day.

It can be hard to put up with sometimes but we can’t stress enough how much comfort they’ve brought to our lives since they were first introduced. Air Conditioners get us through the hot seasons in one piece and do the same when there’s too much cold as most of them are now packed with technologies that would allow them to heat up the house too. With growing concerns for the crazy electricity bills one has to clear up each time, people are now constantly on the lookout for how to cut down the cost. The amount of energy each appliance in your space consumes differs and the earlier you know the specific numbers, the better for you. Without doubts, a lot can be saved if proper attention is paid to the efficiency of the energy in our respective homes. It’s not far-fetched. Since these are some of the things that make life generally easier, the need to find the balance has never been more important and knowing what appliances use the most electricity in a household.

Why are appliances so important?

We can’t further stress the importance of electrical appliances in the home today and much of that comes from how easy they make our daily tasks seem. With humans moving towards comfort, it is only normal that we are lucky enough to have these appliances at our disposal to always help us through. Technology has affected us in a great way and the effect has been largely positive. Electrical appliances have given each household a new meaning and we can all agree that we’re lucky enough to have them in our lives. Below are some of the greatest benefits of electrical appliances in the house.

EASY TO SET UP

One of the things you’ll enjoy the most about electrical appliances is that they are very easy to set up. Appliances like ovens, heaters, and gas-burning stoves might not have the proper gas lines required to properly install them. But for electrical appliances, you only need to connect them to some of the electrical outlets in your space and you’re good to go. They also save you a lot on installation fees as you don’t need any technical help to install them. As long as you have the appropriate outlets from the manual, you can install them yourself without any external support. You’ll not only be saving yourself some money but you will be saving yourself some time too.

THEY ARE ECO-FRIENDLY

With the world pushing for a safer place to dwell, electrical appliances have even gained more prominence over the past few decades. If you’re using electrical appliances, just know that you’re playing your part in making the world a better place to live in. Gas-powered appliances always pollute the air one way or the other, although it might not be that obvious. On the other hand, electrical appliances make less noise, produce little to no waste, and are more effective generally.

THEY PROVE TO BE THE BEST INVESTMENT

The outright cost of electrical appliances might be outlandish and might be very difficult to get at first especially if you’re on a budget. However, they always prove to be the investment for the long term. One thing a lot of people have gotten to realize about electric appliances is that the cost of maintenance, in the long run, is not always so outlandish. The initial cost might put you off, which many people have lamented over the years. But if you have the financial capacity to pull it off, you should opt for it because it’ll save you a lot in the long run.

THEY IMPROVE THE WAY YOU COOK

If you combine the usage of electric appliances like refrigerator, blender, and many more, they make cooking easier for you. A refrigerator plays its part by keeping your food cold, thereby, preserving your food items in the best way possible. Other appliances like microwave ovens also help make cooking easier and reduce your interaction with other stressful ways of cooking.

SOME OF THEM ARE SMART

Some of these appliances are packed with the latest tech-inspired features like voice command and many more. Appliances like air conditioning units and refrigerators have apps that can allow you to control them from your smartphone. Other appliances are also packed with voice commands like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, both of which allow you to control them using your voice. In summary, there’s no better time to enjoy these electrical appliances than now when technology is in the advanced stage, and in a couple more years, further improvements will be made and we will see smarter features that will even make things easier.

If you’re looking for the best appliances you can buy right now, read our ultimate guide on how to get the best appliances on the appliances market.

What should you consider before buying electrical appliances?

Everything has a downside and electrical appliances are not exempted from that concept. A lot of people still always have a rethink before purchasing electric appliances for so many reasons, some of which we’ll be discussing below.

YOU’LL FEEL THE EFFECT ON YOUR BILL

One of the most obvious downsides of going all-electric in your space is that it will have a lasting effect on your monthly electricity bill, especially if you own appliances that are not energy-efficient. Household energy consumption can be at its all-time high which will draw you back by a lot monthly, although the cost of running electrical appliances may differ depending on how it’s generated and the area you live in the country. Information provided by the U.S. Energy Information Association claims that a homeowner in Missouri would spend less (9 cents per kilowatt-hour) than their counterpart in California (21 cents per kilowatt-hour).

TOO DEPENDENT ON ELECTRICITY

This is obvious and we all know electronic appliances can’t do anything without electricity. The unpredictable nature of the weather can lead to disruption of electrical lines and if you run an all-electric setup, that means you’re going to have to spend a few days without your most important appliances. This will set you back and you’ll have to deal with this for as long as the problem persists. You won’t have access to your washer and dryer, blender, refrigerator, and the worst of all, electric stove. Once you don’t have access to these things, your daily routine is going to be tweaked and you won’t even be able to do important things like cooking or storing your food.

What uses the most electricity in a home?

This is the big question and we hope to find the right answer as we progress in this article. Identifying which appliances use the most power in the house is very important and the earlier you can figure that out, the more attention you can pay to that appliances and proffer the best solution.

HEATING UNITS (27%)

Heating takes about 27% in energy consumption which is the average in every home in the United States. Heating is very important around the house and that makes it one of the most popular electrical appliances on the market right now. During the winter season, things can get very cold and heating appliances are your best bet to keep things warm around the house. According to Direct Energy, an average HVAC unit consumes about 3500 watts per cycle, up to 3 times in an hour. This causes energy consumption of 28-63 kWh in just a day and can be up to 1,950 kWh in a month which is largely dependent on how efficient your unit is.

HOW DO YOU SAVE?

During the winter season, you can count on the heat provided by other electrical appliances like your electric stovetop, washing machine, and microwave oven to keep you warm. Alternatively, you can also put your scarves and blankets to good use to reduce the usage of the heating unit around the house.

COOLING UNITS (19%)

It’s no surprise cooling units are just below heating units because they are part of the HVAC setup that consumes the most energy at 46%, the most of any single system or setup. It is important to keep the temperature around the house low during the summer season which helps keep things cool. However, frequent usage can hugely affect your electricity bill, although most of the cooling units in production today are always energy-efficient, and as a result, they don’t consume much power.

HOW DO YOU SAVE?

One of the best ways to save energy on cooling units is to invest in fans. Fans have proved to be more energy-efficient than air conditioners over the years but they don’t make the room as cool as the latter. Another great alternative is the thermostat. You can use a programmable thermostat to control the temperature of your space which during the summer can be set to 78F and 65F during the winter season.

WATER HEATER (14%)

Water heaters are also very important around the house, especially for washing clothes and bathing. Its energy consumption stands at 14%, which is also a big number in terms of energy consumption. A water heater can come in two types; tank and tankless. The tank-based system warms things up directly from the tank and distributes warm water to each connected faucet in the home. The tankless system, on the other hand, uses less energy as it uses a coil system that is installed within each faucet to heat water up. The latter is the most used of the two systems and it is very common among households in the United States.

HOW DO YOU SAVE?

The most effective way to save energy with the water heater is to drop the temperature level to 120 degrees Fahrenheit from the usual 140. Dropping by twenty degrees will still heat things regardless and won’t consume as much energy. Alternatively, you can upgrade to a solar water heater.

WASHER AND DRYER (12%)

Washers and dryers are two of the most important electrical appliances in the home and they reportedly consume about 5% of the total energy in the house.

HOW DO YOU SAVE?

Investing in energy-efficient washers and dryers seems like the most effective solution to reduce the energy consumption of these two units. Also, always ensure that you wash with cold water and you always wash full loads.

REFRIGERATOR (4%)

According to Direct Energy, the average daily energy consumption of a refrigerator stands at 225 watts which will leave you with 162 kWh per month on average. Refrigerators are very important around the house because they do more than just keeping things cool. They also help preserve food items which will save you from going to go to the store more often than necessary.

HOW DO YOU SAVE?

Turning refrigerators off or using them less will almost render them useless because they won’t get to serve their purpose. However, there are still ways to ensure they consume less energy than the conventional way. One of the best things to do is to make sure you invest in energy-efficient refrigerators which are the more sophisticated types.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What uses more energy; TV or light?

According to the infographics provided by Visual Capitalist, TVs and DVDs consume only 3% of electricity while lightning consumes 12% of energy. So obviously, the light uses more energy than TV.

2. Which appliance uses more energy?

From all indications, the appliance that consumes the most energy is the heater that consumes up to 27% of the total electricity consumption in the household.

3. What makes your electricity bill so high?

The reason why you get to pay crazy electricity bills is that you consume more energy. The logic is very simple. If you consume more energy, you’ll have to pay more. If your energy usage stands at 900 kWh monthly, you would end up paying up to $135 if you were charged $0.15 per kWh.

Conclusion

It’s always great to keep the electricity usage in your house in check and one of the best ways to do that is to know which of the appliances in your house consumed the most electricity. From what we’ve discussed in this article, we’ve realized the HVAC system uses 46% of the total electricity in your house and that’s a good place to start from. We’ve also made sure we discussed how you can save energy on some of these appliances so you don’t end up spending a huge chunk of your paycheck on electricity. We hope you’ll find this article helpful now and in the nearest future.