The actual cost of running a fan all night during hot weather
Emma Guinness
Featured Image Credit: The 3 bulldogs / 500px/Getty Images/Maryna Terletska/Getty Images
If you decide to whack out the fan all night amid the hot weather, here's what you could be paying.
It took its sweet sweet time, but finally the UK weather is starting to pull through.
It may be tempting to whack out the fan to ensure a good night's sleep, but do you know how much your electricity bill could actually soar to?
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It's a tough one to weigh up - toss and turn all night because you're too hot, leading to waking up after a shockingly bad nights sleep and being grumpy and snappy all day.
Or use a fan the whole night and basically bankrupt yourself in a cost of living crisis.
But would you actually be coughing up that much cash if you chose the latter?
Well, back in 2023, Uswitch has revealed a 120w fan costs around 3.4p an hour to run.
Seems cheap right? However, if you leave it on overnight, that's 33p in extra electricity which equates to an extra £2.35 a week.
With the cost of literally everything rising, the last thing many households need is an extra £10 added to their energy bills - and this is depended on a single 120w fan, so it could be a lot more if you've got a higher powered or fancier version.
But if you think that's expensive, definitely don't get a portable air conditioning unit, as they cost a whopping 28p an hour to run, which, as you can imagine, seriously adds up - especially overnight.
Thankfully, if you're looking to keep your energy bills as low as possible and stay cool in the heat, there are alternative solutions to cooling down at night.
For one, you could simply leave your window open, or you could try this 10-minute hack involving a lukewarm hot water bottle.
If you're looking to cut back on the pennies during the day, another handy tip is to simply keep your curtains shut and stop the heat from getting in!
With so many of us working from home these days, it's not a bad idea to have a spray bottle of water around too so that you can use it to cool yourself down further.
As for why we are feeling the heat a lot more these past few years, the Met Office has shed some light on that.
"The level of humidity can be higher in the UK than in continental Europe. If humidity is high, it is harder for the human body to keep cool as your sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly," a spokesperson told MyLondon during the heatwave in 2021.
"This is made worse given that we are experiencing more 'tropical nights' – nights where the temperature doesn't go below 20ºC, meaning we get no respite from the heat and time for our body to recover.
"Buildings in the UK are also designed to keep heat in, compared to hotter countries. And we are less likely to have air-conditioning."