Why a handful of appliances own your bill
Most homes spend the bulk of their power on a few big jobs: keeping the house warm or cool, heating water, and running the fridge around the clock. The Australian Government's YourHome guide puts heating, cooling and hot water at the top of household energy use, and once you turn energy into dollars the pattern holds. The long tail (lights, chargers, the modem) is real money over a year, but fixing it barely moves the bill. Fix the big items and the rest looks after itself.
What it actually costs
Typical annual running cost per appliance, on the current NSW reference rate (~32.4¢/kWh). Your state and habits shift these, so each row links to the calculator that works out your own figure.
| Option | What it includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Heating & cooling | Reverse-cycle aircon run hard is about $1.34/hr; a whole summer near $312, winter often more. Aircon / heater | $600–$1,500+/yr |
| Hot water | Usually the second-biggest line; an old electric tank is the pricey version. Hot water calculator | $400–$900/yr |
| Fridge (and the beer fridge) | Runs 24/7 by design, so the range is a new registry-median fridge at the low end to an old, second garage fridge added on top at the high end. Fridge calculator | $88–$250/yr |
| Pool pump | Often the single biggest appliance in pool homes. Pool pump calculator | $300–$900/yr |
| EV charging at home | About $3.80/100 km, roughly a third of petrol. EV charging calculator | $400–$700/yr |
| Laundry | The dryer is the culprit (~$1.10/load), not the washer. Dryer calculator | $150–$350/yr |
| TV & standby | A big TV run several hours a night is cents an hour, but add the always-on standby load of everything else in the house and it climbs. TV calculator | $100–$200/yr |
Figures from EcoGuide's registry-backed calculators; ranges reflect how hard the appliance is used. A pool or an EV reshuffles the top of the list.
Why the “average” figures online are usually wrong for you
Two things decide what an appliance costs: your state's current rate, and how many hours it runs. Rate sets the price per hour; hours set the total. Most calculators quietly use a national average tariff from a few years ago, so their “45 cents an hour” might be your 60, or your 25. The table above prices every row on NSW's current regulated reference rate as one consistent baseline, not a stale national average; the calculator each row links to is what swaps that baseline for your own state's rate and your own hours.
What to actually do about it, using this site's own numbers
Don't chase the long tail: the table above shows heating/cooling and hot water sit well above every other row at both ends of their ranges, so that's where a fix actually moves the bill. Two specific EcoGuide findings worth checking against your own home: our second fridge cost guide finds an old garage fridge alone can add $183 to $255 a year over a dedicated bar fridge doing the same job, and our solar payback guide covers whether panels are worth it if heating/cooling and hot water are already the biggest lines on your bill. Run the calculator behind whichever row above looks biggest in your own home; that's the one number here worth acting on.
Common questions
What is the single biggest electricity user in most homes?
Heating and cooling, followed by hot water. Together they're usually around half to two-thirds of the bill, which is why they're the first thing to fix.
Does turning appliances off at the wall actually save money?
A bit. Whole-home standby can be $100 to $200 a year, but it's small next to fixing heating, hot water and the fridge first.
How do I know my real cost instead of an average?
Use a calculator that loads your state's current rate and your actual hours. That's the only way the number matches your bill, which is what every EcoGuide calculator does.
Sources
Household energy breakdown: YourHome, Appliances (Australian Government). Electricity rates: AER Default Market Offer and each state's regulated reference tariff, current for 2026–27. Appliance running costs: EcoGuide's own calculators, built on the energyrating.gov.au registration database (July 2026 snapshot).