An expense that is often ignored is the cost of electricity needed to run your appliance. Fortunately, Nespresso machines have been designed to only heat up water when it’s needed which makes them incredibly electrically efficient.
Your Nespresso machine only draws a lot of power when its first turned on (to heat the water from room temperature) and when you run the extraction (bringing new cold water into the boiler).
In this article we’re going to take a deep dive into the amount of power a Nespresso machine uses and how much that energy will cost you over the course of a year.
Why Listen To Us? Well, because we KNOW coffee! In fact, we make our own coffee, coffee machine cleaners, and reusable capsules which we've sold to over 41 countries. Our team ouf experts include Tristan (an engineer), Claire (a food writer) and Richy (a barista). So, whether you're looking for a recipe or repair guide, we've got you covered 💚
Table of Contents
How Much Power Does A Nespresso Machine Use?
If we look at the Nespresso Citiz for example, it takes 25 seconds to heat up and then will take around 30-40 seconds to extract your coffee. It’s built in energy saver mode will then automatically shut down the machine 9 minutes later.
The Nespresso Citiz for example is rated to use 1710W of electricity. Making 4 cups of coffee each day, we can estimate an annual power consumption of around 42kWh. At a power price of $0.25/kWh, the cost of electricity to run your Nespresso machine is around $10 a year.
What components in a Nespresso Machine draw the most power.
There are 2 main components in a Nespresso machine that draw a lot of power. These are;
- The Thermoblock (Heating element) – This is the term Nespresso use to describing the heating unit. It’s basically an electric element encased in a block of aluminium and copper pipework. The standard Thermoblock is rated at 1400W. The Thermoblock is energized immediately when the machine is turned on, to heat the water inside to 95degrees Celsius. It will then cycle on an off to maintain that temperature.
- The water pump – The pump Is only used when you extract a coffee. For an espresso shot this will run for about 30 seconds, for a lungo it will be about 60 second.
How many Watts of power do Nespresso machines use?
The next question is to figure out how much power various makes and models of Nespresso machine use. We’ve looked at the datasheets for most of the common models and tabulated the power ratings in the table below.
| Nespresso Model | Rated Power Consumption |
|---|---|
| Citiz | 1710W |
| Creatista | 1600W (Extracting) 900W (Milk Steamer) |
| Essenza Mini | 1150W |
| Latissima | 1400W |
| Pixie | 1160W |
It’s important to note that this figure is the ‘rated input power’ – which basically means it’s the worst case power that the machine can be expected to draw.
In reality it will draw this for a very short amount of time while heating up, and then idle using much less power.
How Much Will I Spend On Electricity Each Year Running My Nespresso Machine?
This is hard to estimate as it depends on a lot of factors, namely how much you pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity, and how often you use your Nespresso machine throughout the day.
The price of electricity – around the world the price we pay for electricity can vary immensely. Here in New Zealand, a figure of around 20c/kWhr is a fair assumption.
| Location Around The World | Average Power Prices ($USD/kWhr) | Cost Of Making 4 Coffees Each Day |
|---|---|---|
| Auckland | $0.19 | $7.90 |
| London | $0.20 | $8.30 |
| New York | $0.21 | $8.70 |
| Sydney | $0.26 | $10.80 |
| Vancouver | $0.14 | $5.80 |
The number of coffees made each day – Obviously the more often you run your machine, the more power you’ll consume.
| Number of coffee’s made each day | Approximate annual power cost |
|---|---|
| 1 | $2.50 |
| 2 | $5 |
| 4 | $10 |
| 8 | $20 |
It’s worth noting that these machines use far less power than simply heating up the kettle for a cup of tea or instant coffee, so if you’re comparing to that it may actually save you money!
Our Final Thoughts
Nespresso machines have been designed to be extremely energy efficient. They only heat the water they need, and will automatically shut down after a short period of inactivity.
Even though you may end up spending around $10 a year on electricity to run your machine, this is negligible compared to the $1300 the average household spends on capsules.
Check out our write-up on the total cost of using the Nespresso system here, in which we work out exactly how much buying the pods, machine, and operating expenses adds up to!
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