What does an electric fireplace cost to run?
Pick one of our fireplaces or enter the wattage yourself, set your electricity rate and how long you run it, and see the cost per hour, per month and per winter.
Estimated cost per heating season
$165
$33 per month, $1.10 per day, 909 kWh per season.
Cost per hour
- Heater on high27.3¢
- Heater on low13.7¢
- Flame effect only0.55¢
How we calculate
An electric fireplace heater turns every watt it draws into heat, so the cost is simple: wattage times hours times your rate. Almost every plug-in model draws 1,500 W on high, the most a standard 120 V outlet allows, and about half that on low. A 1,500 W heater uses 1.5 kWh per hour.
The flame effect on its own uses LEDs and a small motor. Makers rarely publish the figure, so we use 30 W, a few cents a night. The default rate is 18.2¢ per kWh, the 2026 US residential average from the EIA. Rates run from about 12¢ in some southern states to over 30¢ in California and New England, so put in the rate from your own bill.
We count the heater at full draw for every hour you set. With the thermostat on, the heater switches off once the room is warm, so your real cost is often lower. A month counts as 30 days.
Still choosing a model? Try the fireplace finder or read how we score.