How much does it cost to run a halogen oven for an hour, and does an air fryer beat it?
A 1300 watt halogen oven uses 1.3 kilowatt hours in a full hour, which costs 33.9p at the current Ofgem cap rate of 26.11p per kWh, and a normal half hour cook comes to 17.0p. A 1750 watt air fryer costs 45.7p an hour, so the halogen bowl is the cheaper of the two by about a quarter.
What a halogen oven actually draws
A halogen oven is a glass bowl with a halogen lamp and a fan in the lid. The lamp heats the surface of the food directly and the fan moves hot air around it, which is why the bowl needs almost no preheating.
Ratings run from about 900 watts on the smallest bowls to 1800 watts on the larger ones with an extender ring fitted. Jean Patrique publishes 1300 watts for its standard model, and that is the figure used through this guide. Unlike an oven, the halogen bowl does draw close to its rating while the lamp is lit, although the thermostat cycles it off once the bowl reaches temperature, so the numbers here are the ceiling rather than the average.
The rating is stamped on the lid unit. Check yours before you trust any figure on any website, because the difference between the 900 watt bowl and the 1799 watt one is double the running cost for the same half hour.
The sum, worked in full
Take the 1300 watt model. Divide by a thousand to get 1.3 kilowatts, multiply by one hour and you have 1.3 kilowatt hours. At the Ofgem cap rate of 26.11 pence that is 33.9p.
Most things people cook in a halogen bowl take half an hour, which is 0.65 kilowatt hours, or 17.0p. Use it four times a week and the running cost is £2.94 a month, or £35.30 a year.
Those figures assume the lamp is lit for the whole cook, which is the worst case. Once the bowl is up to temperature the thermostat starts cutting the lamp in and out, so a long roast will come in under the number above rather than over it. The daily standing charge is left out of all of this, since it lands on the bill whether you cook or not.
Work it out for your own halogen oven
Type in the wattage from the plate on the back, then your own unit rate. The numbers update as you type.
Halogen, air fryer and oven side by side
| Appliance | Rating or cycle | A half hour cook | A full hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halogen oven, small bowl | 900 W | 11.7p | 23.5p |
| Halogen oven, typical | 1300 W | 17.0p | 33.9p |
| Halogen oven, large with extender | 1799 W | 23.5p | 47.0p |
| Air fryer, typical | 1750 W | 22.8p | 45.7p |
| Electric oven, fan forced cycle | 0.69 kWh | 18.0p a cycle | not measured that way |
| Electric oven, conventional cycle | 1.04 kWh | 27.2p a cycle | not measured that way |
| Appliance | Typical draw | Usage we assume | Per hour (UK) | Per usage (UK) | Per month (UK) | Per hour (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halogen oven | 1300 W | per 30 minute cook | 33.9p | 17.0p | £2.94 | 23.8 cents |
Rates: Ofgem cap 1 July to 30 September 2026 at 26.11p per kWh (source), EIA residential average June 2026 at 18.34 cents per kWh (source). Checked 2026-09-22.
In the United States the same 1300 watt halogen oven costs 23.8 cents an hour at the EIA residential average of 18.34 cents per kilowatt hour, and about 11.9 cents for a half hour cook. Four half hour cooks a week works out at $2.07 a month, and in New York at 29.49 cents a kilowatt hour the hour costs 38.3 cents, which is still less than most people assume for something that browns a chicken.
Six ways to keep the figure down
- Skip the preheat. The lamp reaches working temperature in seconds, so putting food in cold saves the two or three minutes an oven would need.
- Use the lower rack and the extender ring only when you need the height. A taller bowl has more air to heat for the same piece of food.
- Cook two layers at once on the double rack. The second tray of vegetables costs nothing extra, which is the single biggest saving available in any oven of any type.
- Keep the glass clean. Baked on splatter blocks the light from the lamp, and the light is how a halogen oven cooks.
- Turn it off a few minutes early on anything that is already browned. The bowl holds heat well and the fan keeps moving it for a while after the lamp goes out.
- Match the bowl to the meal. Reheating a single portion belongs in the microwave at about 2.0p for five minutes, and using a halogen oven for it costs several times more for a slower result.
Halogen oven against the air fryer and the oven
On a straight cost per hour the halogen bowl wins against an air fryer, 33.9p against 45.7p. The difference over a half hour cook is 5.9p, which is about £12 a year for a household cooking four times a week. Nobody should change appliance for that alone, and anybody who already owns an air fryer should keep using it rather than buying a second machine for a saving that small.
The comparison that matters more is against the built in oven. An electric oven uses between 0.69 and 1.04 kilowatt hours for a standard cycle, which is 18.0p to 27.2p, and most of that is spent bringing a seventy litre cavity up to temperature. For one chicken, a tray of potatoes or a few sausages, the halogen bowl gets the same result for less and gets there faster.
Push past two trays of food and the oven takes the lead again, because cost per portion is the honest measure and a full oven beats a small bowl run twice. A halogen oven is a good buy for one or two people cooking most nights, a reasonable second oven for a busy kitchen, and a poor replacement for the thing under your hob if you regularly cook for five.
Common questions
How many watts does a halogen oven use?
Most sit between 900 and 1800 watts. The Jean Patrique halogen oven is rated at 1300 watts, which is a fair middle figure, and the larger bowls with an extender ring reach about 1799 watts. The rating is printed on the plate underneath the lid unit.
Which is cheaper to run, a halogen oven or an air fryer?
The halogen oven, by roughly a quarter. A 1300 watt halogen bowl costs 33.9p an hour against 45.7p for a 1750 watt air fryer. Over a half hour cook that is 17.0p against 22.8p, so the gap is real but small in money terms.
Does a halogen oven use a lot of electricity?
No. At 1.3 kilowatt hours an hour it uses less than a kettle boiled four times, and far less than an electric oven that has to heat a seventy litre cavity before the food starts cooking.
Are halogen ovens cheap to run compared with a normal oven?
Yes for small cooks. A half hour in the halogen bowl is 17.0p against about 22.7p for a full electric oven cycle, and the halogen reaches temperature in a minute or two. For a Sunday roast with four trays the built in oven is still cheaper per portion.