THE bank holiday weekend is expected to be a scorcher but if you're using an electric fan to keep cool, how much will this cost?
A mini heatwave is predicted for the long weekend with temperatures in the mid-20s until Monday.
To keep cool, many of us will be dusting off our electric fans, or splashing out on buying a new one.
But just how much does it cost to run an electric fan, and what difference will this make to your annual electricity bill?
Here we explain everything you need to know.
How much electricity does a fan use?
The cost of running an electric fan depends on a few different things including, how long it's on for, what kind of fan it is, and how much you usually pay for your electricity.
The first thing you need to do is check how much electricity your fan uses when it's on.
This is known as the "wattage" and should be shown on the fan, or on the original packaging or instructions leaflet.
Once you have the wattage, you need to convert this into kilowatt hours by dividing the number by 1,000.
If your fan has a wattage of 50, for example, divide this by 1,000 to get 0.05. Then multiply this number with the number of hours you're using it for.
If it's on for 10 hours a day, for example, you'll have 0.5kW, and this is the amount of energy your fan uses per day.
How much does my fan cost to run?
To work out the cost of using your fan, you need to find out how much you pay for electricity.
If you check one of your statements from your energy provider, it should list how much it charges for one unit of energy (which is 1kw).
Multiply this mount by the Kw output of your fan. For example, if you pay 16p for a unit of energy, multiply this by 0.5kW and you'll end up with 8p.
The equation is: Cost = power (kilowatt) × time (hour) × cost of 1 kWh (pence).
But how much extra will you pay if you're running the fan throughout the night to stay cool?
We used a free energy use calculator to find out how much running an electric fan for 12 hours a day would cost.
Based on a fan with a wattage of 0.50, and with one unit of energy costing 16p, it would cost9p a day, £2.92 a month, or £35.04 a year.
Obviously this depends on how long you have the fan on, as you're not going to have it on every day of the year.
To cut costs on your energy bill the easiest thing to do is switch providers, especially if you haven't done so in a while.
This can knock hundreds off your annual bills and it's quick to check via a comparison website your potential savings.
Because we're all spending so much time at home right now, energy bills are expected to rise by £32 a month.
If you're struggling to pay your energy bills because of the pandemic, you may be able to apply for a break from payments.
You can also cut your broadband costs and increase your speed, we show you how.
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