Most Texas households overpay not because they chose the wrong plan, but because they have no idea which appliances are burning the most electricity. Understanding wattage, and how it converts into cents on your bill, gives you the clearest possible picture of where your money goes. This guide covers the major appliances in a typical home, room by room, with real wattage figures and cost estimates based on a representative Texas all-in rate.
A quick note on math: one kilowatt-hour (kWh) equals 1,000 watts running for one hour. At an assumed all-in rate of 14.7 cents/kWh (below the EIA statewide residential average for Texas of 15.88 cents/kWh in July 2026, and inside the roughly 14 to 19 cent band Texas residential rates are tracking in 2026) every 1,000 watt-hours costs roughly 14.7 cents. Substitute the rate on your own Electricity Facts Label for a figure specific to your household. The numbers below use that rate as a baseline.
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How to Read Wattage Numbers
Every electrical device has a wattage rating, usually printed on a label near the power cord or listed in the owner's manual. That number tells you how much power the device draws while running. Multiply watts by hours of use, divide by 1,000, and you have kWh consumed. Multiply that by your rate per kWh and you have your cost.
Formula: (Watts x Hours) / 1,000 = kWh. Then kWh x rate = cost.
Some appliances cycle on and off (refrigerators, HVAC systems), so their effective consumption is lower than the nameplate wattage suggests. Others, like space heaters and electric dryers, run at or near full power the entire time they operate. That distinction matters when estimating your monthly bill.
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Kitchen Appliances
Refrigerator: A modern Energy Star refrigerator draws between 100 and 200 watts while the compressor runs, but it cycles, so actual consumption works out to roughly 1 to 2 kWh per day. Older models from the 1990s can consume 3 to 4 kWh daily. At 14.7 cents/kWh, a modern fridge costs approximately $4 to $9 per month. An older unit can cost $13 to $18.
Dishwasher: A standard dishwasher uses 1,200 to 1,500 watts during the wash cycle and another 1,000 to 1,500 watts during heated drying. A full cycle totals roughly 1.5 to 2 kWh. Running it once a day adds up to about $6.50 to $8.80 per month.
Electric range (oven): A standard oven element draws 2,000 to 2,500 watts. Baking for one hour consumes 2 to 2.5 kWh, costing roughly 29 to 37 cents per session. Stovetop burners range from 1,200 watts (small burner) to 2,500 watts (large burner). Daily cooking for a family might add $10 to $20 per month depending on habits.
Microwave: Most microwaves draw 900 to 1,200 watts but run for short periods. Daily use of 15 minutes totals roughly 7 to 9 kWh per month, or about $1.00 to $1.30.
Coffee maker: A drip coffee maker uses 800 to 1,200 watts but only brews for 8 to 12 minutes. Monthly cost for a daily brew is under $1.
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Living Room and Home Office
Television: A 55-inch LED TV draws 80 to 120 watts. Watching four hours a day costs approximately $1.40 to $2.12 per month. Older plasma TVs could draw 300 to 500 watts, making them far more expensive to run.
Desktop computer: A mid-range desktop with a monitor uses 150 to 300 watts under load. Eight hours of daily use at 200 watts comes to roughly 48 kWh per month, or about $7.06 at that rate.
Laptop: Laptops are efficient. Most draw 20 to 50 watts. Heavy daily use might add $1 to $2 per month.
Gaming console: Modern consoles like a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X draw 70 to 200 watts during active play. Two hours of daily gaming at 150 watts adds roughly 9 kWh per month, or about $1.32.
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Laundry and Utility Areas
Electric clothes dryer: This is one of the largest single loads in any home. A standard electric dryer draws 4,000 to 6,000 watts. One 45-minute cycle uses 3 to 4.5 kWh. Four loads per week costs roughly $7 to $10.50 per month. Switching to a heat pump dryer can cut that consumption by 40 to 50 percent.
Washing machine: A front-load washer draws 300 to 500 watts. The bigger energy cost is in heating the water if you use hot wash cycles. Cold water washing drops per-load consumption significantly.
Electric water heater: A 50-gallon electric water heater uses 4,000 to 5,500 watts while heating but cycles based on demand. Typical monthly consumption is 380 to 500 kWh, making it one of the most expensive single loads in many homes.
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Fitness Equipment: How Many Watts Does a Treadmill Use?
Treadmills vary more than most appliances because consumption depends heavily on incline, speed, and the runner's weight. A motorized treadmill draws between 300 watts (slow walking, flat) and 900 watts (jogging, moderate incline). High-end commercial-grade treadmills at full speed can reach 1,500 watts or more.
For a typical home user running at a moderate pace for 45 minutes per day:
- Wattage: approximately 600 watts
- Daily kWh: 0.45 kWh
- Monthly kWh (30 days): roughly 13.5 kWh
- Monthly cost at 14.7 cents/kWh: approximately $1.98
A treadmill used daily is not an expensive appliance to run. It is far cheaper than a window AC unit or a space heater. Where treadmill owners sometimes run into trouble is leaving the machine in standby mode with the console powered on continuously. Standby draw can add 5 to 15 watts at all times. Over a month of continuous standby that is 3.6 to 10.8 kWh, or about 53 cents to $1.59, which is not alarming but is worth knowing.
Ellipticals and stationary bikes without a motor draw zero watts from the wall. Bikes with powered resistance systems or built-in screens (Peloton-style) draw 50 to 150 watts during active use.
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Heating and Cooling: The Dominant Load
In Texas, HVAC almost always tops the list. A central air conditioner sized for a 2,000 square-foot home draws 2,000 to 5,000 watts (2 to 5 tons of cooling capacity). Running six to eight hours daily through a Texas summer can easily account for 40 to 60 percent of a household's total monthly consumption.
A portable window AC unit draws 500 to 1,440 watts and covers one room. A ceiling fan draws only 15 to 75 watts and can make a room feel 4 degrees cooler, allowing you to raise the thermostat setpoint without discomfort.
Electric space heaters are a winter concern. Most draw 1,500 watts at full power. Running one in a bedroom for eight hours overnight uses 12 kWh, or $1.76. Run three of them throughout a home and the monthly winter bill impact can exceed $150.
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What to Do With This Information
Knowing wattage is useful, but the real value comes from identifying which devices run the longest at the highest wattage. The water heater, dryer, oven, and HVAC system are almost always the top contributors. Treadmills, televisions, and computers rarely move the needle significantly.
Once a household knows its typical monthly kWh, comparing electricity plans becomes far more precise. Many Texas plans include bill-credit structures that reward usage near a specific threshold, usually 1,000 kWh. Those structures create a cliff: a credit that triggers at 1,000 kWh and vanishes at 999 kWh can push a lower-usage household's effective rate to roughly double the advertised number, because Power to Choose ranks plans by the price at exactly 1,000 kWh. A household that knows it consistently uses 600 kWh per month should check the 500 kWh column on every Electricity Facts Label before signing, and generally steer clear of credit-dependent plans.
The goal is not to unplug everything. It is to understand the load profile well enough to choose a plan that prices electricity fairly at the usage level the household actually reaches every month.