What does an electric kettle cost to run?

The humble electric kettle is one of the highest-wattage appliances most people own, around 2,400W, and in a tea-and-coffee nation like New Zealand it gets used many times a day. That combination of high power and constant use is what makes it quietly interesting on a power bill.

Each boil is short, so no single one costs much. Bringing enough water for a cup to the boil takes a minute or two, and on its own it is fractions of a cent. This is why nobody thinks of the kettle as an expensive appliance, and for a single use they are right.

The daily total across a household is what sneaks up, especially when people boil a full kettle for a single cup. Repeated a dozen or more times a day, every day, those little boils add up into a line that is bigger than most people would guess for something so ordinary.

The one real saving is to boil only what you need. Reheating a full kettle of water that then sits and cools, several times a day, is the most common waste in the whole kitchen. You are paying to heat water you will never drink, then letting it go cold.

Fill it to the cup or two you are actually using and the energy drops roughly in proportion, because most of the cost is heating the water itself. Two cups' worth uses far less than a full jug, and you get your brew a little faster into the bargain.

Descaling it occasionally helps too, since a furred-up element takes longer to reach the boil and so draws for longer each time. In hard-water areas especially, a quick descale keeps the kettle working as efficiently as it did when new, and it is worth doing every few months rather than waiting until the scale is thick.

It is a small thing, but multiplied across a year of daily brews it is real money, and it costs nothing to change. In the calculator, try adjusting how much water you boil against how often, and you will see why the kettle punches above its weight for such a modest-looking appliance.