As an overview: a microwave oven is the most energy-efficient, followed by a hob and lastly an oven. Therefore, to keep your energy bills down, it’s a good idea to purchase a microwave oven if you don’t already have one, and to use it for as much cooking as possible. But, remember to switch off your microwave at the wall when you’re not using it, so it isn’t left using electricity to power its clock.
You can also implement a couple of simple ideas to save on your bills, such as making sure you only fill your kettle with the amount of water you need, and always using the kettle and not the hob to boil water. Likewise, always make toast in your toaster, and not on a grill.
Slow cookers can also be an energy-efficient option – they use just a little more energy than a traditional light bulb, and you can leave your food to cook slowly while you get on with other things.
The Centre for Sustainable Energy (www.cse.org.uk) estimates the average electricity usage of an electric oven between 2-2.2kWh, while a microwave uses between 0.6-1.5kWh. A slow cooker uses approximately 0.7kWh over the eight hours.
The electric oven is the most expensive appliance to use in the home. Using it for an hour each day will cost £2.46 a week, or £127.92 over a year.
Electricity costs around 15p per kWh, so using an oven for an hour to cook your stew will cost around 30p – depending on your temperature. A slow cooker, which uses around 0.7kWh over the eight hours cooking time as an average of , will cost a third of the price, at 10.5p.
Bear in mind that an oven with a thermostat will not in fact be “on” all of the time, cycling on and off according to the internal temperature.