The oven is one of the hungriest things in most kitchens, yet its true running cost is easy to misjudge because so much depends on how hot you run it, how long the door stays shut, and whether you use the fan setting. The wattage on the rating plate is the headline figure, but a thermostat-controlled oven does not draw that power the whole time it is on. Once you understand the difference between the peak draw and the average draw, you can work out a realistic cost for a Sunday roast or a weeknight tray bake in under a minute.
The short answer. A typical electric fan oven costs roughly 20p to 40p an hour to run at the July to September 2026 price cap, because although it may draw 2kW to 3kW at peak, the thermostat cycles the element on and off so the average draw is lower. For a household using the oven a few times a week, that adds up to somewhere around £50 to £90 a year. Running the fan setting, batch cooking and skipping a long preheat are the savings that actually move the needle.
What an electric oven actually costs to run
An electric oven heats by passing current through metal elements, and most domestic single ovens are rated somewhere between 2kW and 3kW. A large double oven or a high-end model can be rated higher, up to around 5kW if every element runs at once, but that peak rarely happens in normal cooking.
The key thing to grasp is that the rating plate shows the peak draw, not the continuous draw. When you set an oven to 200C, it pulls full power to heat up, then the thermostat switches the element off once it reaches temperature and only switches it back on to top the heat up. Over a full hour of cooking, a 2.5kW oven might only average around 1kW once it is up to temperature, because it spends a good share of the time coasting with the element off.
Electricity is billed in kilowatt-hours (kWh). One kWh is one kilowatt running for a full hour. To find the cost you multiply the average power in kilowatts by the time in hours, then by your unit rate. For an oven averaging 1.25kW over an hour at 26.11p:
- 1.25 kW x 1 h = 1.25 kWh
- 1.25 kWh x 26.11p = about 33p for the hour
If the maths behind the unit is new to you, our guide on what a kWh is walks through it step by step.
Cost per use and per year at the price cap
The table below assumes a single fan oven that draws around 2.5kW at peak but averages roughly 1.25kW once it is holding temperature, which fits most domestic models cooking at a normal roasting heat. A non-fan or larger double oven will sit a little higher, a small compact oven a little lower.
| Use | Running time | Energy used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preheat to roasting temperature | 10 to 15 minutes | about 0.45 kWh | about 12p |
| Quick tray bake or oven chips | 30 minutes | about 0.65 kWh | about 17p |
| A typical evening meal | 1 hour | about 1.25 kWh | about 33p |
| A Sunday roast | 2 hours | about 2.5 kWh | about 65p |
| Used about 4 hours a week for a year | about 208 hours | about 260 kWh | about £68 |
At 26.11p per kWh, Ofgem cap July to September 2026. Assumes a fan oven averaging 1.25kW once up to temperature.
For most households the oven lands somewhere between £50 and £90 a year, with heavy bakers and large families pushing higher. To see where this sits against everything else you plug in, our appliance running cost hub lists the common kitchen culprits side by side.
Why your oven might cost more or less than this
The figures above are a fair middle estimate, but a few things shift the real cost on your bill in either direction.
- Fan versus conventional. A fan oven circulates hot air, so it heats faster, cooks more evenly and lets you drop the set temperature by around 20C for the same result. That alone can shave a useful slice off the energy used. If your oven has a fan setting, it is almost always the cheaper choice.
- Single versus double oven. A double oven with both cavities running draws far more than a single. Using the small top cavity for a single tray, rather than firing up the big main oven, saves energy on small jobs.
- How long the door stays shut. Every time you open the door a chunk of heat escapes and the element has to work to recover it. Resist the urge to peek; use the internal light and the glass instead.
- Oven age and seals. A worn door seal or a tired element leaks heat and makes the thermostat cycle on more often. A door that no longer closes snugly is quietly costing you.
- Cooking temperature. A long slow cook at 150C uses less power per hour than a fierce 220C roast, though it runs for longer. The total often evens out, but low and slow is gentle on the element.
If you want to know the true draw of your own oven rather than trust an estimate, a plug-in energy monitor is awkward here because most ovens are hard-wired rather than plugged into a 13A socket. In that case, the cleanest way to measure is to take a meter reading before and after a cooking session, which our guide on reading your energy meter explains.
Reading the label and the energy rating
The rating plate, usually on the door frame or the back of the oven, gives the peak power in watts or kilowatts. A figure like 2,500W or 2.5kW is the most the oven will draw with the element on full. Some plates list the supply in amps instead; multiply by 230 to get watts (for example, 13A x 230 = about 3,000W). Remember this is the peak, not the average over a cooking session.
The energy label you see in shops rates ovens by their energy efficiency class and gives an energy consumption figure per cycle, measured under a standard test. That per-cycle figure is handy for comparing two new ovens, but it is based on a fixed test load and will not match your real cooking, which depends on what you cook and how long for. Our explainer on energy labels covers what each part of the label is actually telling you and how to read the consumption figure fairly.
Simple ways to cut your oven's running cost
The oven is worth a bit of attention because it is one of the larger discretionary loads in the kitchen. None of these need you to buy anything.
- Use the fan setting and the lower temperature. Drop the dial by around 20C from what a conventional recipe states. Faster heat-up and even cooking mean less energy for the same plate.
- Batch cook. Once the oven is hot, fill it. Cooking two trays or a week's worth of portions in one session spreads the heat-up cost across far more food.
- Skip the long preheat for many dishes. Casseroles, jacket potatoes and slow roasts do not need a fully preheated oven; you can put them in as it warms up and save several minutes of full draw.
- Turn it off early. A hot oven holds its heat for a good while. Switch it off five to ten minutes before the end and let the residual heat finish the job.
- Match the appliance to the portion. For one or two portions, a microwave or an air fryer is usually far cheaper than firing up a big oven. A slow cooker beats the oven for stews and casseroles.
- Keep the door clean and shut. A clear glass panel means you check without opening, and a clean seal keeps the heat where it belongs.
We put the three quick-cook options head to head, with figures, in oven, microwave and air fryer compared, which is worth a look if you find yourself reaching for the oven out of habit.
The bottom line
An electric oven costs roughly 20p to 40p an hour to run, and most households spend somewhere between £50 and £90 a year on it, based on the 26.11p price cap rate for July to September 2026. The peak wattage on the rating plate overstates the real cost, because the thermostat cycles the element on and off once the oven is up to temperature.
The savings that matter are the easy ones: use the fan setting at a lower temperature, fill the oven when it is hot rather than running it half empty, keep the door shut, and reach for the microwave or air fryer when you are only cooking for one. Do that and the oven earns its place on the bill without becoming a problem item. For the bigger picture on what every appliance is costing you, start with our appliance running cost hub.