What Uses the Most Electricity in a Home?

Short answer: in US homes, air conditioning uses the most electricity over a year (about 19%), followed by space heating and water heating (about 12% each) and refrigerators (about 8%). Lighting is around 6%, and everything else (TVs, computers, cooking, laundry, pumps and devices on standby) makes up the rest. In a home with an electric car, the car is often the single biggest user.

See what any appliance costs you with the electricity cost calculator.

US household electricity by end use

These are national averages from the EIA's 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey. A home with gas heating and a gas water heater will see a much larger share from cooling and appliances; a home with electric heat in a cold climate will see heating dominate.

The biggest individual users

Typical yearly use for a single appliance (your own will vary with size, age, settings and climate):

Electric heating is missing from the table because it varies so much: a heat pump in a mild climate might use 2,000 kWh a winter, while electric baseboard heaters in a cold one can use over 10,000.

What uses the most electricity in UK homes?

Most UK homes heat with gas, so electricity goes mainly on cooking, laundry, fridges and freezers, lighting and electronics, with a typical home using about 2,700 kWh a year. Homes with electric storage heaters, a heat pump or an electric shower use far more: an electric shower draws 8 to 10.5 kW, so a 10-minute shower uses about 1.5 kWh, roughly 40p at the price cap.

Small things that add up

• Standby power: TVs, games consoles, set-top boxes, chargers and smart speakers drawing a few watts each can total 30 to 50 W around the clock: 260 to 440 kWh a year.
• Old second fridges and freezers in garages often use more than the new one in the kitchen.
• Pool and hot tub pumps and heaters can each add 1,000 to 3,000 kWh a year.
• Dehumidifiers running all summer in a basement can use several hundred kWh.

How to find your own biggest users

1. Use your utility's app or smart meter data to see when use peaks.
2. Use a plug-in energy meter on anything that plugs in, for a few days each.
3. For hard-wired loads (water heater, AC, pumps), read the main meter before and after switching each circuit off for an hour.
4. Price what you find with the kWh cost calculator, then tackle the biggest first. To see the carbon side too, try the home electricity carbon footprint calculator.

If your bill has jumped recently, see why is my electric bill so high.

Frequently asked questions

What appliance uses the most electricity?

Over a year, air conditioning and electric heating, then water heating. Among single plug-in appliances, an electric car, clothes dryer and refrigerator are usually the biggest.

Does unplugging appliances save electricity?

A little. Standby use is a few watts per device, but across a whole house it can be worth $50 to $80 a year in the US. Smart power strips make it easy.

Do LED bulbs make a big difference?

Swapping old incandescent bulbs saves about $10 per bulb a year, but if your home already has LEDs, lighting is a small part of the bill.

Sources

• US Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, electricity end-use tables.
• Appliance figures: our calculators' worked examples and ENERGY STAR ratings; EV use from US EPA consumption ratings.
• Ofgem, average gas and electricity use.

Checked October 22, 2026.