How much does a space heater, 2,000 W cost to run?
About 53p an hour in the UK and 37¢ an hour in the US. A space heater, 2,000 W draws about 2,000 W for as long as it is on. The common UK size. Almost nothing portable runs it for a useful length of time.
What it costs, by how long it runs
| Running for | kWh | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 0.33 | 8.8p | 6.1¢ |
| An hour | 2 | 53p | 37¢ |
| An 8-hour night | 16 | £4.21 | $2.93 |
| A full day (24 hours) | 48 | £12.63 | $8.80 |
| A month at 8 hours a day | 480 | £126.34 | $88.03 |
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.
A cheaper way to stay warm
Heating the person costs a fraction of heating the room. An electric blanket costs about 0.55p an hour, against 53p for a space heater, 2,000 W.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric blanket | 21 | 0.55p | 0.39¢ |
| Heated throw | 40 | 1.1p | 0.73¢ |
| Gas combi boiler (its electrics) | 51 | 1.3p | 0.94¢ |
| Gas furnace (blower and controls) | 300 | 7.9p | 5.5¢ |
| Space heater, 750 W | 750 | 20p | 14¢ |
| Oil-filled radiator | 900 | 24p | 17¢ |
| Space heater, 1,500 W | 1,500 | 39p | 28¢ |
| Space heater, 2,000 W | 2,000 | 53p | 37¢ |
| Fan heater | 2,000 | 53p | 28¢ |
Running it in a power cut
See which power station will run a space heater, 2,000 W, 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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