Calculate Cost

Purchase price, total costs, ...

Is a cheap product really cheaper - especially when the running costs for electricity (and water, if applicable) are also taken into account?
Does it pay to go for the more efficient - and possibly more expensive - appliance?
These questions are often not easy to answer. This tool is designed to help you make an informed purchase decision.

Total cost = purchase price PLUS sum of operating costs over the product's useful life

The following factors can affect running costs:

• the efficiency of the product
• the intensity of use
• the expected useful life of the product
• the electricity tariff (and water tariff, if applicable)

New energy labels on washing machines, washer-dryers and TVs and electronic displays display energy consumption in kWh/100 cycles or kWh/1000 hours respectively. This makes comparing the energy consumption between products simple and easy, however it can be hard to apply this figure to real life use e.g. we might not typically know in what space of time we would have watched 1000 hours of television.  

In the tool, assumptions are made for each product category. For example, by default the tool assumes that a TV is watched for 3.5 hours a day, for 8 years with an energy tariff of 20.06p per kWh. The tool then uses these usage assumptions along with information from the energy label to calculate the electricity costs of using the appliance. However, you can edit these assumptions by clicking the pencil icon (as in the image below) to reflect how often you use the product, over what period of time and your actual energy costs.

The electricity costs are added to the purchase price (if you provide this) which gives you the approximate total costs of the product.