Use this page to check electric can opener electricity consumption for your own electric can opener: enter your wattage, hours of use per day and electricity rate, and press Calculate. You see your daily, monthly and yearly cost plus your yearly kWh consumption. Those same results also cover electric can opener power consumption. Also see how many watts does an electric broom use.
Wondering how much electric can opener electricity consumption adds to your power bill? The honest answer is almost nothing: a typical plug-in model uses about 0.43 watt-hours per can, which works out to roughly 3 cents of electricity a year for a household that opens nine cans a week. Most electric can openers cost far more to buy than to run, so the useful questions are how the power source changes your real running cost and which design suits your kitchen.
A can opener of the electric kind is a small motor that spins a cutting wheel for roughly 15 to 30 seconds per can, then stops. Nameplate ratings for corded countertop units usually sit in the range of 50 to 100 watts, but that power is only drawn while the motor is turning. Between cans a plain mechanical can opener with no clock, light or display draws nothing, so there is no standby loss to hunt down. The power needed for one can is simply the motor's wattage multiplied by the seconds it runs.
Because the motor runs for such a short time, the energy involved is tiny even though the wattage looks high. A 70-watt motor running for 22 seconds uses less energy than a 9-watt LED bulb burns in three minutes. That is why electric can openers rank among the lowest-consumption kitchen appliances you own, far below a kettle, a toaster or a microwave.
Convert the motor's power draw and run time into energy with this formula, then multiply by your local electricity price to get cost:
$$E_{\text{Wh}} = P_{\text{W}} \times \frac{t_{\text{s}}}{3600}$$
$$\text{Cost} = \frac{E_{\text{Wh}} \times \text{cans per year}}{1000} \times \text{rate per kWh}$$
Here P is the motor's power draw in watts, t is the opening time per can in seconds, and the 1000 converts watt-hours into kilowatt-hours, the unit your utility bills.
Take a household that opens 9 cans a week, or 468 cans a year, with a corded opener rated at 70 W that takes 22 seconds per can. Electricity costs $0.17 per kWh.
Put another way, a year of can opening uses about as much energy as a 9-watt LED bulb left on for 22 hours. Even if you doubled the cans opened with the can opener, doubled the run time and paid double the rate, the total would still be pocket change.
Once the opener stops being a plug-in appliance, the electricity bill gets even smaller, but a different cost appears. A cordless opener runs from either replaceable batteries or a built-in rechargeable cell, and the price of the power source overtakes the price of the electricity. Compare with how much electricity does an electric clock use.
A rechargeable unit stores energy in a lithium cell and refills through a USB-C port. Suppose yours holds 1,500 mAh at 3.7 V, which is 5.55 Wh, and your charger is about 85 percent efficient. One full charge then draws about 6.5 Wh from the wall. Some cordless models advertise that one cell opens 60 cans on a single charge, which gives 0.109 Wh per can, around a quarter of the plug-in figure, because the small motor draws far less power. Across 468 cans that is about 51 Wh, or $0.0087 a year. The unit recharges in a couple of hours, and you only need to remember to plug it in.
Models that take AA batteries move the cost from your electricity bill to the shop. Assume four alkaline cells cost $4.00 and last about 150 cans (an assumption, since real life depends on can size and temperature). Over 468 cans you would buy 3.12 sets, so the battery cost is $12.48 a year, hundreds of times the electricity cost of a rechargeable unit.
| Power source | Energy per can | Energy per year (468 cans) | Running cost per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corded, 70 W motor | 0.428 Wh | 200 Wh | $0.034 |
| Rechargeable, USB-C | 0.109 Wh | 51 Wh | $0.0087 |
| Four AA batteries (about 150 cans per set) | about 0.100 Wh stored | about 47 Wh stored | $12.48 in cells |
Since the electricity itself is negligible, the choice between can openers between a manual can opener and an electric one comes down to effort, safety and price, not power. A manual tool needs no electricity, no battery and no cord, and it lasts for decades. An electric model typically lasts 3 to 5 years with proper care.
If you open a can or two a month, a basic manual tool is the sensible budget pick. If you open cans several times a week for soup, tuna or tomatoes, the saved effort and the lower injury risk make an electric can opener worth the extra money.
The best electric can opener for most kitchens is the one whose features keep the motor's run time, and therefore its energy use, as short as possible. Look at these features, which reviewers who tested dozens of cans keep returning to, and how each one affects the watt-hours a can costs you: Also see how much electricity does a humidifier use.
An automatic shutoff stops the motor the moment the lid is free, which cuts run time to the minimum, and hands-free operation lets you step away without holding a button. An automatic stop also prevents a motor from spinning on an empty can and wasting energy.
A smooth edge cut leaves a lid you can touch, which matters for safety compared with an awkward safety can opener alternative. A built-in magnet or lid lifter keeps the lid out of the food and a removable cutting lever speeds up cleanup. None of these features changes the energy used per can, so you can choose on handling alone.
A stainless steel cutting wheel stays sharp, so it cuts quickly and keeps each can's run time near the 22-second figure above, and that durability is the reason a limited warranty is a fair signal of confidence. A compact body with a small motor leaves counter space free, and a cord that tucks inside keeps the countertop tidy. Some designs hold kitchen knives against a built-in sharpener, which saves a second gadget. A small cordless body is easy to take along for travel, and a stronger motor that handles soda cans adds convenience for daily use, at a slightly higher wattage that still amounts to pennies a year.
You will not save meaningful money on electricity here, but a few habits keep the cost, and the waste, close to zero:
Whatever you pick among can openers, the kitchen savings come from choosing a tool you will actually use, not from shaving fractions of a watt-hour.