Electric Kettle Power Consumption Calculator

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

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

Electric kettle are normally rated between 1100 watts to 2000 watts. A 1500 watts electric kettle normally takes 4 minutes to boil one liter of water. This means it takes around 0.1 kWh of electricity to boil 1 liter of water in a 1500 watt kettle. If you are using the kettle to boil water 3 times a day, then in an entire month it will consume around 9kWh of electricity.

Table of Contents

Electric Kettle Power Consumption:

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

First is the wattage of your electric kettle,
And second is the electricity tariff in your area.

Before we jump in to calculating the power consumption of your electric kettle, lets see what these terms are and how you can find out your electric kettle 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 Kettle:

The wattage of an electric kettle varies from 1100 watt to over 2000 watt, the higher the wattage, the quicker it boils the water.

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

electric kettle wattage — Wattage of my electric kettle printed on its label (1500 watts)

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

Watt is a 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.

Generally the wattage of heating devices is higher than other appliances as lot of electricity is used to heat a coil, which in turn heats the fluid (which in this case is water).

To give you some perspective an average 42 inch TV is rated at around 100 watts.

So in short, the wattage of an electric kettle lies between 1100 watts to 2000 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.

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

Calculate Your Electric Kettle power consumption:

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

Let me show you how to do it using an example,

As an example I have selected a 1.5 liter 1800 watts electric kettle from Philips listed on amazon India.

1500 watts philips electric power consumption — 1800 Watt Electric Kettle

Let us calculate the power consumption of this electric kettle.

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

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

Cost to run an electric kettle = Power consumption of an electric kettle X electricity tariff.

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

Now let’s calculate

Electricity consumption of A 1800 watt electric Kettle:

It normally takes between 3 to 4 minutes to boil 1 liter of water in a 1800 watt electric kettle, to be on the safe side lets takes 4 minutes.

We will be using our kettle 5 times everyday to boil water throughout the entire month, this adds up to 20 minutes in a day, 600 minutes or 10 hours in a month.

Hence by using the above formula.

Power consumption of 1800 watt electric kettle to boil 1 liter of water = 1800 watt X 0.066 hours = 120 watt hours (Wh) = 0.12 kWh

We will convert this 120 watt hour (Wh) into Kilo watt hour (kWh) as electricity tariffs are given for per kWh. To do this simply divide 120 by 1000, you will get 0.12 kWh (As 1kg = 1000g, 1km = 1000m, similarly 1kWh = 1000Wh)

Hence, Power consumption of 1800 watt electric kettle to boil 1 liter of water 5 times in a day = Power consumed for 1 time X no of times (5 in our case)

Power consumption of 1800 watt electric kettle to boil 1 liter of water 5 times in a day = 0.12 x 5 = 0.6 kWh

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

let’s calculate how much it will cost to run this 1800 watt electric kettle in Los Angeles, London and in Mumbai.

The electricity tariff in Los Angeles is around 25.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around $ 0.15(0.6 kWh X 25.8 cents) to run this 1800 watt electric kettle for 4 minutes 5 times a day to boil 1 liter of water.
In case of London, the electricity tariff in London is around 36p/kWh , hence it will cost around £ 0.21 (0.6 kWh X 36p/kWh) to run this 1800 watt electric kettle for 4 minutes 5 times a day to boil 1 liter of water.
In case of Mumbai, the electricity tariff in Mumbai is around Rs 10 per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around Rs 6 (0.6 kWh X Rs 10) to run this 1800 watt electric kettle for 4 minutes 5 times a day to boil 1 liter of water.

For your reference I have calculated the cost to run this 1800 watt electric kettle for 5 times a day for an entire month in Los Angeles, London and Mumbai.

Country (Tariff)	Daily Power Consumption of an Electric Kettle (1800 Watt @ 20 min/day = 0.33 hrs)	Monthly Power Consumption of an Electric Kettle (1800 Watt @ 20 min/day X 30 = 10 hrs)
Los Angeles (25.8 c/kWh)	0.6 kWh, $ 0.15	18 kWh, $ 4.64
London (36p/kWh)	0.6 kWh, £ 0.21	18 kWh, £ 6.48
Mumbai (Rs 10/kWh)	0.6 kWh, Rs 6	18 kWh, Rs 180

The above figures suggest the maximum power consumption of a 1800 watt electric kettle, but few electric kettles come with thermostat to change and set the temperature, hence those electric kettles will consume less electricity if the temperature setting is not at maximum.

Electricity Consumption Table For Different Electric Kettles:

For your reference I have calculated the power consumption of different wattage electric kettles running 3 times everyday (4 minutes each time) for an entire year.

Wattage	Daily Power Consumption ( 12 min/day)	Monthly Power Consumption (360 min or 6 hours)	Annual Power Consumption (72 hours)
1000 watts	0.2 kWh	6 kWh	72 kWh
1200 watts	0.24 kWh	7.2 kWh	86.4 kWh
1500 watts	0.30 kWh	9.0 kWh	108 kWh
1800 watts	0.36 kWh	10.8 kWh	129.6 kWh
2000 watts	0.40 kWh	12.0 kWh	144 kWh

I have created a simple calculator using which you can find out the power consumption of your electric kettle, all you need to do is feed your electric kettle wattage, operational hours and electricity tariff and let the calculator do the calculations for you.

Electric Kettle Power Consumption calculator:

As I said before, the above calculated result is the maximum power consumption of your electric kettle, depending on the thermostat temperature your actual power consumption may vary a bit.

Hence, if you want to know the exact power consumption of your electric kettle then you can buy a cheap Kill A Watt Meter from amazon.

Calculate Power Consumption Of An Electric Kettle 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 kettle, first you have to connect your electric kettle 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 the electric kettle and you can see in real time how many kWh (units) of electricity your electric kettle is consuming.

Now that we know the power consumption of electric kettle, lets look to few tips that will help you to reduce your electric kettle power consumption.

Electric Kettle Power Saving Tips:

Don’t overfill. If you want to boil 2 glasses of water then just put 2 glasses of water, remember the more water you fill the more electricity it will take to boil it. If you are not drinking it some time anyways the water will become cold again.

Avoid reboiling. Nowadays many electric kettle comes with a keep warm function, this allows you to keep the water heated for long time, thus eliminating the need to reheat it, thus reducing your power consumption.

You can read an interesting research article on how overfilling, underfilling and reboiling increases power consumption. click here

You can check out our other articles to know more about power consumption of other household devices and how you can reduce your electricity bill by going solar.