How much does it cost to run your electrical appliances? Here are simple tips to save money

The energy crisis is hitting consumer budgets hard. Amid soaring gas prices and a higher cost of living in general, many households have become increasingly worried about their energy bills.

The average European household will see a rise of about 7 per cent in its cost of living this year, relative to what was expected in early 2021, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.

This reflects the direct effect of higher energy prices as well as their pass-through to other goods and services, says the organisation.

Things reached a new low in the UK last week, with energy regulator Ofgem raising the energy price cap by 80 per cent to £3,549 (€4,098) a year for the average household from October, in a blow to already hard-pressed consumers.

Against this backdrop, small actions like turning off appliances at home are dwarfed by wider factors beyond the control of the average consumer - but actions in the home are also increasingly at the forefront of their minds, as people try to confront the escalating cost of living.

With the steep increase in energy prices, it’s worth knowing where you might be able to make savings.

We take a look at how energy is used in a typical household, which appliances use the most energy, and how much they could be costing you.

First off, it’s worth understanding a little bit about how energy usage is typically allocated in an average household.

For example, heating is by far the greatest use of energy for households in the European Union. Conversely, energy used for things like keeping the lights on or for cooking represents a much smaller fraction of the pie in comparison.

In 2020, the main use of energy by households in the EU was for heating homes (62.8 per cent of final energy consumption