What a microwave costs to run in Georgia

What a microwave costs here

Across 4 plans priced in Georgia, a microwave adds $8.92 to $17.36 a year — $0.74 to $1.45 a month. The median plan puts a microwave at $15.16 a year.

Cheapest for a microwave: SCHEDULE TOU-RD-11 RESIDENTIAL DEMAND SERVICE, Georgia Power Co. Dearest: SCHEDULE R-30 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE, Georgia Power Co.

Those 107 kWh are billed at 8.3¢–16.2¢, against a 14.9¢ whole-bill average on the median plan: they land in the last tier the household reaches, so the average rate understates them by up to 1.4¢ per kWh.

What Georgia homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 107 kWh a year across 410 sampled homes that run one, near the national 107 kWh. The middle half spans 56 kWh to 135 kWh, so a microwave varies by 79 kWh between one household and another.

Cooking and reheating, plus the standby draw of the clock and panel. That average covers homes with a microwave — 98% of homes here.

That makes a microwave about 1% of the electricity a Georgia home uses. The remaining 13,163 kWh is what a microwave is billed on top of, and on a tiered or time-of-use plan that is what sets the rate it meets.

Light and heavy use of a microwave

A household in the lighter quarter runs a microwave for 56 kWh a year and pays $4.67 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 135 kWh and pays $11.31 — $6.64 more for a microwave on the same tariff.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Georgia, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 4 Georgia tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.