How much does it cost to use a steam iron?

We plugged our energy meter into a mains socket then plugged our iron into it. We had already entered our electricity price into the meter so it could give us a direct readout of running cost. Having topped up the iron with water, it was switched on to warm up, which took around one minute. The iron was then used to iron a huge pile of shirts – fifteen in all.

Fact file

Appliance: Tefal Ultraglide Cordless Iron

Mains suppy voltage: 234v

Main heating element consumption: varied 1753 watts

Maximum current: 7.62 Amps

Consumption time: 15 min 46 sec out of around 30 min of use (no power is consumed when the thermostat kicks in).

Total energy consumption: 0.4 KWh

Cost to iron 15 shirts (at 10p/KWh): 4p