The Cost of Boiling a Kettle: Calculator and How to Reduce Costs

The Cost of Boiling a Kettle: Calculator and How to Reduce Costs

As energy prices rise, many people are asking “what is the cost of boiling a kettle?”. In certain countries, especially the UK, the kettle is one of the most used appliances so concerns around how much it costs to boil are understandable. Not knowing how much your kettle is costing you could result in higher energy bills. It is increasingly important that you look at how to calculate, understand and reduce the costs of boiling your kettle at home.

Many of us are also looking into ways to reduce the cost of boiling our kettles. Fortunately, there are actionable ways to reduce this cost which we’ll run through with you below.

But first, we have our global kettle energy/electric costs calculator that will show you how much it costs to boil your kettle once, and even how much your kettle costs you each day, week, month, and year based on your own tea and coffee drinking habits.

Kettle Cost to Boil Calculator

Next, let’s take a look at how your kettle compares against the average time and cost to boil water for your tea or coffee. Is your kettle super efficient or is it costing you an arm and a leg?

Average Cost to Boil a Kettle

You should have been able to calculate how much it costs to boil your specific kettle with our calculator above. As explained, the amount it costs is dependent on your electricity tariff, how long your kettle takes to boil, and of course how many cups of tea/coffee you drink per day.

electric kettle
Many of us boil the kettle 5 or more times a day.

Typically a full kettle will take around 3-4 minutes to boil, will hold around 7 cups worth of water, and will have a rating of 3000W. If you’re based in the USA, your wattage is likely around 1200W.

With everything considered, especially the currently increasing unit costs of electricity (cost per kWh), you will be looking at around £0.05-£0.06 to boil a full kettle in the UK, or around $0.02 to boil a full kettle in the USA.

Boiling enough water for a single cup can be around £0.01 in the UK or in the USA less than $0.01.

If your kettle takes longer than 4 minutes to boil, you could be wasting energy and money, so check out below how to save costs on boiling your kettle.

Save Money on Boiling Your Kettle

If your kettle takes a long time to boil, this can be an indicator that it is not working efficiently. If it’s taking more than 4 minutes to boil you could be wasting a significant amount of money every time your boil your kettle.

Common reasons for a slow boiling kettle are limescale in the filament of the kettle or that you are using a non-fast boiling kettle. Both are less than ideal and will cost you more money every time you boil the kettle.

How to Reduce Kettle Boiling Costs

Remove Limescale

As above, a kettle that hasn’t been descaled can take a significantly longer time to boil. Imagine a scenario where it doubles how long it takes you to boil your kettle. That can take the costs of boiling your kettle up from £0.05 each time, to £0.10 each time. It may not sound much, but if you use your kettle every day it can and will add up over the course of a year.

So, if limescale causes the issue, of course, the solution is to remove it by descaling your kettle.

What many people don’t realize is that you should descale your kettle every month or two. If you’ve never done it before, imagine how much it could be affecting how much it costs you to boil your kettle. Luckily it is very easy and cheap to descale a kettle.

The 3 options you have are:

  • Boil with a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and water.
  • Boil with a mixture of white vinegar and water.
  • Use a cheap descaling kit.

Over the years we’ve tried all 3. The bicarbonate of soda works to an extent but wasn’t hugely effective. The white vinegar method worked well but unfortunately creates a very pungent cloud of vinegar fumes that can hang around for hours.

The best option we’ve found is using a “kit” like this cheap descaling kit on Amazon. It’s quick, breaks down the limescale quickly, and doesn’t have a bad odor. For a small amount of money, you can speed up how quickly your kettle boils and in turn save money on boiling your kettle.

Buy a "Fast Boiling" Kettle

People often have the mistaken view that fast-boil kettles use more energy. It’s actually the opposite – they use a lot less energy. Because they boil so fast, they are using your electricity supply for less time, so the cost of boiling the kettle is vastly reduced.

A fast boil kettle can boil completely when full in 3 – 3.5 minutes. This is in comparison to non-fast boil kettles which can take 4-5 minutes or more. Depending on how often you use your kettle, this can add up because in some cases you may even half your boiling time.

The Cost of Boiling a Kettle: Calculator and How to Reduce Costs

Of course, Amazon isn’t the only option for cheap fast boil kettles, so make sure you shop around and get yourself the best deal possible. Other options are to go via cashback sites such as Swagbucks or Quidco which will give you some cash back for free when you purchase your brand new kettle!

Don't Overfill Your Kettle

If you play around with the cost to boil kettle calculator above you can see the difference between boiling a full kettle and boiling enough water for just one cup. This can save up to £18 a year if you have 5 cups of tea/coffee a day.

We all do it because laziness can get the best of us and we just fill the kettle up too much without concentrating! But taking your time and looking at the markers inside or outside of your kettle and making sure you only fill to 1 or 2 cups (or however many you’re making) can save you a nice amount of cash per year.

To really put this in perspective, in 2013 (way before the energy crisis), a report determined that Brits were wasting £68 million a year by overfilling their kettles. With rising energy prices, this is likely now double, or more.

Drink Less Tea or Coffee

This one is probably the toughest option. We love our tea and coffee but the fact is that caffeine can cause headaches, anxiety, and even trouble sleeping. So, if you want to save some cash by boiling that kettle a little less and improving your health while you’re at it then caffeine reduction is the way to go.

It’s not for everyone but this is the most direct way to reduce how much it costs to use your kettle!

Conclusion

So we’ve seen that the factors involved in the cost to boil a kettle are down to your electricity tariff (cost per kWh), the efficiency of your kettle (which can be improved), and how much water your boil each time.

Using the information above you should be able to figure out exactly how much money it costs to boil your specific kettle and what you can do to reduce how much you spend each time your boil up a cup of tea or coffee.

Saving money, or reducing costs can be difficult but it works best in combination with increasing how much you earn. You can easily earn enough to buy a new energy-efficient kettle by completing a single offerwall offer on a get-paid-to site like gain.gg or as previously mentioned Swagbucks. In that way, you cover the extra expense effortlessly and reap the rewards of a lower cost per boil.

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