How much does a rice cooker cost to run?
About 6.6p an hour in the UK and 4.6¢ an hour in the US. A rice cooker draws about 500 W for roughly 50% of the time it is switched on, so it averages 250 W. Full power to the boil, then a trickle to keep warm.
What it costs, by how long it runs
| Running for | kWh | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 0.042 | 1.1p | 0.76¢ |
| An hour | 0.25 | 6.6p | 4.6¢ |
| An 8-hour night | 2 | 53p | 37¢ |
| A full day (24 hours) | 6 | £1.58 | $1.10 |
| A month at 8 hours a day | 60 | £15.79 | $11.00 |
UK prices use the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 (direct debit, average across England, Scotland and Wales, with no VAT on electricity this winter): 26.32p per kWh (Ofgem). The standing charge of 54.83p a day is paid whatever you run, so it is left out. US prices use the US average residential price for June 2026 from the Energy Information Administration: 18.34¢ per kWh (EIA). Your own tariff is on your bill; scale the figures by it.
Measure your own
These are typical figures for a typical unit. A plug-in energy monitor between the socket and the appliance shows the real watts and adds up the kWh, so after a day or a week you know exactly what it costs on your tariff.
Compared with similar appliances
| Appliance | Average W | UK per hour | US per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow cooker | 125 | 3.3p | 2.3¢ |
| Rice cooker | 250 | 6.6p | 4.6¢ |
| Blender | 500 | 13p | 9.2¢ |
| Pod coffee machine (Nespresso) | 650 | 17p | 11¢ |
| Filter coffee maker | 720 | 19p | 15¢ |
| Electric skillet | 720 | 19p | 13¢ |
| Toaster | 1,000 | 26p | 22¢ |
| Air fryer | 1,050 | 28p | 19¢ |
| Microwave, 700 W output | 1,100 | 29p | 20¢ |
| Portable induction hob | 1,440 | 38p | 22¢ |
| Microwave, 1,000 W output | 1,500 | 39p | 28¢ |
| Electric kettle | 3,000 | 79p | 28¢ |
Running it in a power cut
See which power station will run a rice cooker, and for how long.
Appliance draw modelled on web.archive.org. The US Department of Energy retired this page in 2025; the link is the Internet Archive's June 2024 capture. The figures remain typical ranges for a typical unit, not a specification.
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