The household appliance that costs the most to use

If you were guessing which household appliance costs the most to run, you might well go for something like an oven or a kettle, both of which pour out lots of steam and heat.

But the worst culprit is a device that lurks in your bathroom (although overall, it’s probably not the most expensive device in your home in terms of annual energy costs).

Confused? The device which uses the most energy in your home is probably... the power shower.

Generally speaking, any device that heats or cools in your house tends to be among the most power-hungry, with tumble dryers (for example) consuming around 3 kilowatts.

About 12% of the average British household’s heating bills goes on heating water, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

Why so much energy?

Some power shower units can consume up to 11 kilowatts, making them more power-hungry, minute by minute, than just about any device in your home.

Even lower-powered units tend to start at 7.5 kilowatts.

That means, for a top-rated power shower running at full power, a 20-minute shower could cost £1.25.

Minute by minute, power showers outpace just about everything in your household - although other surprisingly high-rated appliances include immersion heaters, which can burn up to six kilowatts.

To cut down the amount of energy you use, a shower timer can help keep your showers to a set length of time (say four minutes, for example).

Which uses most energy year-on-year?

Strangely enough, despite the vast power demands of power showers, they are probably not the most expensive item in your home in energy terms.

That dubious honour goes to the electric tumble dryer, according to research by energy consultancy Carbon Footprint.

Assuming 148 users per year, at 2.50kWh per cycle, a tumble dryer will cost you £125.80.