Cost to run a microwave in Utah (August 2026 rates)
At 13.31¢ per kilowatt-hour — Utah's average residential price in August 2026 — running a microwave costs $14.57 a year. That is 27% less than the national average of $19.89. Utah's residential rate is down 2.3% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $14.91 to $14.57 a year.
- Per hour
- 16.0¢
- Per day of use
- 4.0¢
- Per month
- $1.21
- Per year
- $14.57
Assumption: 1,200 W, 15 minutes a day, 365 days a year — 110 kWh a year. Draw while cooking; the 1,100 W on the label is delivered power and the wall draw is a little higher. Assumes 15 minutes a day of actual use. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How Utah compares
Utah pays 13.31¢/kWh, the 4th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $5.31 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same microwave costs $13.93 a year in Nevada and $51.66 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $37.73 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 12.87¢ | $1.17 | $14.09 |
| North Dakota | 13.31¢ | $1.21 | $14.57 |
| Utah | 13.31¢ | $1.21 | $14.57 |
| Idaho | 13.37¢ | $1.22 | $14.64 |
| Tennessee | 13.42¢ | $1.22 | $14.69 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a microwave.
What else costs about the same in Utah
Cutting the number down
- Reheating in a microwave is close to the cheapest way to put heat into food, because nearly all of it lands in the food rather than the air.
- The clock display draws a couple of watts around the clock, which over a year is a meaningful share of a lightly used microwave's total.
Questions
- How much does a microwave cost per month in Utah?
- About $1.21 a month, assuming 1,200 W, 15 minutes a day, 365 days a year at 13.31¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a microwave use?
- Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 1.20 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- Utah has the 4th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $19.89 a year.