How Much Does It Cost to Run a Rice Cooker in the UK? (2026)

A rice cooker draws full power only while bringing water to the boil, then drops to a low keep-warm setting of 30 to 60 watts. A typical cook uses well under 0.3 kWh.

A typical rice cooker (500 W) costs £0.13 per hour, or about £1.97 per month at 0.5 hours a day in the UK. Cheap to run

Electricity price region

Hours used per day

Wattage	Per hour	Per day	Per month	Per year
Low 300 W	£0.079	£0.039	£1.18	£14.41
Typical 500 W	£0.13	£0.066	£1.97	£24.02
High 1,000 W	£0.26	£0.13	£3.95	£48.03

Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 0.5 h/day ≈ 91 kWh per year.

One hour of a rice cooker (0.50 kWh) is the same electricity as

2.8km in an electric car
5.0hours of TV
11hours of a laptop
56hours of an LED bulb

Electricity per year at typical use, on a log scale: #30 of 95 appliances, from least to most.

In the UK, with electricity at 26.3p per kWh (source: Ofgem price cap 1 Oct–31 Dec 2026, 2026-10), a typical rice cooker costs £0.13 per hour and about £24.02 per year at 0.5 hours a day. Each £1.00 of electricity buys roughly 7.6 hours of use.

How to lower the cost of running a rice cooker

Turn off keep-warm once the rice is done. Over several hours it can use more than the cook itself.
Cook larger batches and refrigerate leftovers.
Use the quick cook mode if your cooker has one.

In standby it draws about 1 W, which adds roughly 9 kWh (£2.31) per year if it is never unplugged.

Frequently asked questions

How much electricity does a rice cooker use per batch?

About 0.2 to 0.3 kWh, less than a cent in most regions.

Is a rice cooker cheaper than the stove?

Yes. It is insulated and switches itself down, so it uses less energy than a pot on a burner.

Does keep-warm use a lot of power?

About 40 watts, so leaving it on for 8 hours uses more than cooking the rice.

Cost by region

US states

Canadian provinces

Related appliances

Use the generic electricity cost calculator · Which uses more? Take the quiz