Usage rates vary depending on the energy plan with your retailer. This guide calculates the usage cost of your heating and does not include the daily supply charge, which is a set cost per day to supply gas or electricity to your property.
For electric heaters
Step 1 Find your rates on you latest electricity bill
- Look for your 'Anytime' or 'Single Rate' usage.
- If your rates are based on the time you use electricity, you might have 'Peak' and 'Off-Peak' usage instead.
- If you have ‘Peak’ or ‘Off-Peak’ rates, use the rate that matches the time you usually heat your home.
- The usage rates are shown in cents. For example, on this bill it’s 22 cents per kilowatt hour.
Step 2 Find your heaters energy consumption
- Find the label on your heater that has the energy consumption and model number details.
- Find the number of Watts (W) of your heater.
- Take the number of Watts (W) and divide by 1,000 to get the kilowatt (kW) number.
- For example - this small heater is 1,000 W.
- 1000W divided by 1000 = 1kW.
- You might have a heater that has a range of watts depending on the heat or fan settings you use
- For example - this fan heater uses 1800-2000 W, so it uses between 1.8-2kW.
Step 3 Do the calculation
- Multiply your usage rate, the number from your bill, by your heaters kilowatt (kW) energy consumption
- For example - the usage rate is 22 cents/kWh on this bill and this fan heater uses up to 2000W, which is 2kW:
- 22 cents x 2kW = 44 cents.
- Based on the rates from this bill, this heater costs 44 cents per hour on its highest settings.