Brits with sluggish cookers set to pay £23.09 further from April as warning issued

Ofgem is lowering the energy price cap from April 1, and calculations show weekly slow cooker users will pay just £23.09 annually to run their appliance

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Households with a slow cooker who utilise it at least once weekly will encounter £23.09 charges from April 1. Ofgem is reducing the energy price cap from that date, meaning Britons will fork out less annually for their energy consumption.

The energy regulator has announced that households on a standard variable tariff (default tariff) who settle their electricity bills by Direct Debit will now pay on average 24.67 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh). This represents welcome news for Britons, who might spot a difference in the expense of operating certain appliances.

Slow cookers have gained popularity throughout the UK in recent years, as they save considerable time in the kitchen.

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Dishes like roast beef and pulled pork are incredibly straightforward to prepare in the slow cooker, and people can switch them on to begin cooking before departing for work, with the meal ready upon their evening return, reports the Express.

But how costly are these gadgets to operate, and are you better off utilising an oven?

We have carried out some calculations to help you work out how much you can anticipate paying.

This is based on operating the slow cooker for eight hours, which is the duration required to cook items like roast beef and pork. We also calculated the annual cost based on using the slow cooker once weekly, so 52 times yearly.

According to GoCompare, the typical slow cooker consumes between 200W and 250W. With Ofgem’s fresh rate of 24.67 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh), we were able to determine that slow cookers will, on average, cost merely £23.09 annually to operate after April 1.

Here’s a more comprehensive breakdown, according to a formula supplied by energy specialists Bluetti:

• The wattage gets multiplied by the hours utilised and divided by 1,000. This gives us 1.8KWh.
• This figure, when multiplied by the fresh average hourly rate, equals 44.406p.
• Should you be operating your slow cooker for this duration once weekly throughout the year, you would then multiply this individual-use expense by 52. This delivers an annual cost of £23.09.

Whilst slow cookers generally require longer to prepare your meals than an oven, they consume far less power. GoCompare reveals that a standard electric oven utilises between 2,000 and 5,000 watts of energy, more than 10 times greater than a slow cooker’s energy consumption.

Ofgem confirms the fresh daily standing charge stands at 57.21 pence per day. This reflects the average across England, Scotland and Wales and incorporates VAT at 5%.

The tariff reduction arrives as the Government recently declared that funding for two environmental and social programmes will either cease or receive backing through general taxation from April 2026. Energy consumers will now save an average of £150, the energy regulator confirms.

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