How do I calculate the cost of running appliances?

[paneer]

I use my slow cooker a lot, esp in the colder months. I also have an electric oven and gas hob.

What I would like to do ideally is to work out approx how much it costs me in fuel for the cooking times. So if I was to slow cook something in the oven for 2hrs, vs. my slow cooker for 8 hours how do I go about calculating the cost of the electricity?

Mm, you can't do it from first principles because it will depend how well your oven and slow cooker are insulated.

And you can't use one of these inline, plug-in electricity monitor if the oven has no plug.

The only way I can think of, would be to use a clip-on monitor, which will tell you whole-house energy usage.

The problem is, it will be hard to work out how much of the power is being used by other appliances. Even if you don't use lights, TV, hairdryer, you probably wouldn't want to switch off the fridge and freezer (big power users) during your 8 hour experiment.

for the slow cooker, look on the label or the instructions for the power rating in kilowatts. a 'unit' of electricity is the cost of using one kilowatt for one hour. There you go.

not so easy for the oven - but I can happily tell you that the slow cooker will use a lot less electricity.

Nope, that just tells you the max power of appliance.

Most ovens and (I assume) slow cookers have a thermostat to switch the heating element on and off to maintain the chosen temperature.

So they won't be at max power for the entire cooking time.

Those electric plug in monitors are brilliant. I got mine in maplins.