How Much Electricity Does a Space Heater Use?

For people looking for an option to heat small spaces in their house, the question is often: How much electricity does a space heater use? Electric space heaters can be an efficient option if utilized within the limits of the unit and with appropriate attention to safety.

Crunching the Numbers

The monthly costs of operating a space heater are also an issue, depending on how many hours the unit will be used per day. How much electricity does a space heater use, then? Fortunately the answer can be calculated with a simple formula, plus one bit of information typically available from your electricity bill.

The Heater’s Wattage Rating

This figure represents the amount of electricity expressed in watts that the heater uses per hour. It’s usually shown on a label or is available from the unit’s owner’s manual. A typical residential space heater is rated for 1,500 watts (or 1.5 kilowatts per hour), so we’ll use that figure for our example.

The Local Cost of Electricity

Your monthly electric bill will show how much the utility charges per kilowatt of electricity. In this part of Oklahoma, residential electricity costs an average of about 9 cents per kilowatt per hour.

Amount of Time the Heater Will Run

To answer “how much electricity does a space heater use?”, we’ll also need to decide on an average amount of time the heater runs per day. Six hours is a good average during cold weather, so we’ll plug that into the calculation.

So How Much Electricity Does a Space Heater Use?

1,500 watts (space heater rating) x 6 (average daily hours) = 9,000 watts or 9 kilowatts of electricity daily.

9 kilowatts x 9 cents per kilowatt = 81 cents per day.

On a monthly basis, the cost of running a typical household space heater six hours per day is, therefore, $24.30.

Air Assurance Can Help

If your home is drafty or you have rooms that run colder than others, you may want to use a space heater. But if this is true, there could be alternatives that would save you money or provide a safer solution. Options such as heat pumps or ductless mini splits are available. Contact us today to learn more about these products or for more answers to heating questions.