If you are planning to buy a new electric blanket or wondering how much electricity your existing electric blanket is consuming then this article is for you. In this article we will see the power consumption of an electric blanket and calculate how much does it cost to use an electric blanket for a night.

Also by the end you will learn to find out power consumption of any electric blanket using a simple calculator.

Electric blankets are normally rated between 70 watts to 300 watts. A 100 watt electric blanket running for 2 hour in a day will consume around 0.2 kWh of electricity. This adds up to around 6 kWh of electricity in a month and 73 kWh of electricity in a year.

Electric Blanket Power Consumption:

The power consumption of an electric blanket (for that matter any electrical appliances) depends upon two main things

1. First is the wattage of your electric blanket,
2. And second is the electricity tariff in your area.

Before we jump in to calculating the power consumption of your electric blanket, lets see what these terms are and how you can find out your electric blanket wattage and the electricity tariff of your locality.

If you already know these terms and just want to use the calculator then please scroll down.

what is The Wattage of an electric Blanket:

The wattage of an electric blanket varies from 70 watt to over 300 watt, the higher the wattage, the quicker it can heat your bed.

You can find the wattage of your electric blanket by reading on the label in it or just look for your electric blanket on amazon and you will find its wattage in the description section.

If you don’t know what a watt is then here it is,

Watt is the unit of power. It means the rate at which electricity is consumed or produced by a device. For example, a 50 watt TV consumes power at a rate of 50 watts per hour, it does not mean that the TV consumed 50 units of electricity, it means it will consume power at a rate of 50 watts every hour.

So in short, the wattage of an electric blanket lies between 70 watts to 300 watts and you can find it by looking at the label on it. With that out of the way lets look at what is electricity tariff.

What is your Electricity Tariff:

In simple words electricity tariff is the amount your electricity provider charges you for one unit (kWh) of electricity. I live in Mumbai, India here the electricity tariff is Rs 12/kWh.

(What is a Kilowatt hour (kWh) – Kilowatt hours or units of electricity is the energy consumption of a device. For example a 50 watt table fan running for 50 hours will consume 50 watt x 50 hours = 2500 watt hours = 2.5 kilowatt hours of electricity = 2.5 units of electricity. (1 kWh of electricity = 1 unit of electricity))

To find your electricity tariff, just look into your previous month electricity bill and find out your monthly electricity consumption, then just divide your monthly electricity consumption with your total monthly electricity bill, the figure you get is approximately your electricity tariff after adjusting taxes and other charges.

If you don’t want to do any of this then just google electricity tariff followed by your location.

Calculate Your Electric Blanket power consumption:

With these two information in hand you are ready to find the power consumption of your electric blanket.

Let me show you with an example,

I have selected a 70 watt electric blanket listed on amazon India. Lets assume we will be using this blanket for 3 hours in a day throughout the year.

Hence, we will calculate the power consumption of this electric blanket in a day, in a month and in an entire year.

With the knowledge of your electric blanket wattage and your electricity tariff, just use this simple formula to its calculate power consumption.

Power consumption of an electric blanket = Wattage of an electric blanket X operational hours

Cost to use an electric blanket = electric blanket power consumption X electricity tariff.

(Operational hours is basically the number of hours you are using your electric blanket)

Now let’s calculate

Electricity consumption of A 70 watt electric Blanket:

Wattage in our case is 70 watts and number of hours is 3.

Hence by using the above formula.

Power consumption of a 70 watt electric blanket in a day (3hrs) = 70 watt X 3 hours = 210 watt hours (Wh) = 0.21 kWh

We will convert this 210 watt hour (Wh) into Kilo watt hour (kWh) as electricity tariffs are given for per kWh. To do this simply divide 210 by 1000, you will get 0.21 kWh (As 1kg = 1000g, 1km = 1000m, similarly 1kWh = 1000Wh)

Similarly, Power consumption of a 70 watt electric blanket in a month (3hrs/day x 30days) = 0.21 kWh X 30 = 6.3 kWh

And Power consumption of 70 watt electric blanket in a years (3hrs/day @ 365 days) = 6.3 kWh X 12 = 75.6 kWh

Now that we know the power consumption just multiply it by your electricity tariff and you will get to know how much it will cost to run your electric blanket.

let’s calculate how much it will cost to run this 70 watt electric blanket for an entire month in Los Angeles, London and in Mumbai.

• In case of Los Angeles, the electricity tariff in Los Angeles is around 25.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around $ 1.62(6.3 kWh X 25.8 cents) to run this 70 watt electric blanket for 3 hours/day throughout the month.
• In case of London, the electricity tariff in London is around 36p/kWh , hence it will cost around £ 2.26 (6.3 kWh X 36p/kWh) to run this 70 watt electric blanket for 3 hours/day throughout the month.
• In case of Mumbai, the electricity tariff in Mumbai is around Rs 10 per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around Rs 63 (6.3 kWh X Rs 10) to run this 70 watt electric blanket for 3 hours/day throughout the month.

For your reference I have calculated the cost to run this 70 watt electric blanket for 5 times a day (3 hours/day) for the entire month and the entire year in Los Angeles, London and Mumbai.

The above figures suggest the maximum power consumption of a 70 watt electric blanket, but most electric blanket comes with thermostat to change and set the temperature plus some also have different power modes.

Hence the actual consumption will be slightly less if you are not running it at max load.

Electricity Consumption Table For Different Electric Blanket:

For your reference, I have made the table below which shows the power consumption of different wattage electric blankets running for 3 hours everyday for an entire month.

Now go ahead and use the below calculator to find out the power consumption of your electric blanket.

Just type the wattage of your electric blanket, hours of usage and your electricity tariff and let the calculator do the math for you.

Electric Blanket Power Consumption Calculator:

The above calculated result shows the maximum power consumption of your electric blanket, depending on the thermostat setting the actual power consumption will be slightly less.

For some reason if you want to know the exact power consumption of your electric blanket then just buy a cheap Kill A Watt Meter from amazon.

Calculate Power Consumption Of An Electric Blanket Using Kill A Watt Meter:

Kill A Watt Meter is a simple device which gives real time data of power consumption of any device.

You can check it on amazon using this link – Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

To use a kill a watt meter to calculate the power consumption of your electric blanket, first connect your electric blanket plug into the kill a watt meter and then plug the kill a watt meter in your wall socket and you are good to go.

Then start using your electric blanket and you can see in real time how many kWh (units) of electricity it is consuming.

Now that we know the power consumption of an electric blanket, lets compare it to an electric heater and see which one consume more electricity and which one you should buy.

Electric Blanket Vs Electric Heater Power Consumption:

Generally the wattage of an electric heater varies from 500 watt to over 3000 watt, the higher the wattage, bigger the room it can heat.

So to begin with, electric heaters have higher watts than electric blankets, hence obviously their power consumption will be much higher.

The table below compares the monthly electricity consumption of a 100 watt electric blanket and 1000 watt electric heater

As you can see electric heaters consume way more power than electric blanket, thus they are a good option if you want to heat a room which 4-5 people are using at the same time.

For a single person electric blanket makes more sense as they use less power and are cheap in comparison to an electric heater.

You can check out more details on electric heater power consumption in this article.

You can check out my other articles to know more about electricity consumption of other household appliances and useful tips to reduce your electricity bill.

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References:

• https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/electricity_prices/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916303579