Between your fridge, computers, toaster, TV, internet, lights, microwave, washing machine, dryer, and any other energy consumers in your home, you can find yourself using really large amounts of electricity that you don’t even know about. Our houses use up a significant chunk of energy and it adds up to points you may not even believe. Recently, we did a blog post on global energy consumption and broke it down to average energy usage per state, but we broke it down to even finer detail: household energy consumption, specifically appliances.
Average Energy Usage per House
So how much does your home use exactly? Well, we can’t give you numbers for your home specifically, but we can give you the average for your area. Here are the pure numbers from the EIA (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=97&t=3):
- The average U.S. home used 11,280 kWh in 2011.
- This breaks down to about 940 kWh per month.
This is the whole country, so let’s break it down even further to the states. Listed alphabetically, here is the average household energy consumption per state in 2012:
- Alabama – 1187 kWh
- Alaska – 654 kWh
- Arizona – 1061 kWh
- Arkansas – 1120 kWh
- California – 573 kWh
- Colorado – 706 kWh
- Connecticut – 731 kWh
- Delaware – 942 kWh
- DC – 721 kWh
- Florida – 1081 kWh
- Georgia – 1098 kWh
- Hawaii – 544 kWh
- Idaho – 1010 kWh
- Illinois – 767 kWh
- Indiana – 997 kWh
- Iowa – 873 kWh
- Kansas – 945 kWh
- Kentucky – 1130 kWh
- Louisiana – 1254 kWh
- Maine – 531 kWh
- Maryland – 1005 kWh
- Massachusetts – 627 kWh
- Michigan – 676 kWh
- Minnesota – 793 kWh
- Mississippi – 1193 kWh
- Missouri – 1060 kWh
- Montana – 842 kWh
- Nebraska – 1000 kWh
- Nevada – 935 kWh
- New Hampshire – 615 kWh
- New Jersey – 691 kWh
- New Mexico – 656 kWh
- New York – 603 kWh
- North Carolina – 1077 kWh
- North Dakota – 1091 kWh
- Ohio – 895 kWh
- Oklahoma – 1132 kWh
- Oregon – 957 kWh
- Pennsylvania – 837 kWh
- Rhode Island – 597 kWh
- South Carolina – 1119 kWh
- South Dakota – 980 kWh
- Tennessee – 1217 kWh
- Texas – 1168 kWh
- Utah – 793 kWh
- Vermont – 565 kWh
- Virginia – 1117 kWh
- Washington – 1037 kWh
- West Virginia – 1078 kWh
- Wisconsin – 703 kWh
- Wyoming – 867 kWh
The state that used the most energy in 2012 was Louisiana with 1258 kWh, and the least energy usage was Maine with 531 kWh. (Find the full list of states with average monthly rates in this Excel spreadsheet from the EIA: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/xls/table5_a.xls)
What Appliances Use the Most Electricity?
We’re not done yet! We know the world’s energy consumption (524 quadrillion BTU per year) and the average states’ energy consumption (940 kWh per month), but what is really responsible here? We all have to use electricity; it’s a part of our everyday life. How much of this everyday usage comes from your computer, microwave, and TV? Energy.gov quotes the typical Wattage of some common household appliances on their site: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use
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Here’s their list of appliances and how many Watts they use:
- Fish Aquariums – 50-1210W
- Coffee Maker – 900-1200W
- Washer – 350-500W
- Dryer – 1800-5000W
- Dishwasher – 1200-2400W
- Ceiling Fan – 65-175W
- Window Fan – 55-250W
- House Fan – 240-750W
- Hair Dryer – 1200-1875W
- Clothes Iron – 1000-1800W
- Microwave – 750-1100W
- Average Desktop PC – 60-250W (From Mr. Electricity)
- Laptop – 50W
- Fridge – 725W
- TVs
- 19” – 65-110W
- 27” – 113W
- 36” – 133W
- 53”-61” / Projectors – 170W
- Toaster – 800-1400W
- DVD Player – 20-25W
- Vacuum – 1000-1440W
- Water Heater – 4500-5500W
What is Your Electricity Consumption Exactly?
If you want to know your exact energy usage per month, check your energy bill at the top left. Your energy supplier should place it in the 4th section of your bill generally marked “Electric Usage Profile” as seen in our BGE sample bill below.
Is Your Electric Bill Too High?
If you want to compare your energy rates in MD, DC, or IL and switch energy suppliers, switch now using our free service to save on your energy bill.
