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About this tool
Work out simple payback, discounted payback and lifetime NPV of replacing an old appliance with an energy-efficient model.
Appliance upgrade payback is the number of years the energy saving takes to repay the cost of buying the more efficient model. This calculator works it out three ways: simple payback (net cost divided by first-year saving), discounted payback that accounts for a rising electricity tariff and the return the same money could earn elsewhere, and net present value across the appliance's full life. It also converts the units saved into CO2 avoided at roughly 0.71 kg per kWh on the Indian grid.
Open Appliance Upgrade Payback Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Applies your tariff escalation and discount rate, so the payback is honest.
Exchange or scrap value is netted off the purchase price before payback is worked out.
No annual kWh figure? Enter watts and daily hours and it converts for you.
Divide the net upfront cost by the annual energy saving in money. If a new fridge costs 45,000 after a 3,000 trade-in and saves 700 units a year at 8 per unit, that is 42,000 divided by 5,600, or 7.5 years. Discounted payback is longer than simple payback whenever your discount rate exceeds the tariff escalation.
Only if the payback lands comfortably inside the new appliance's expected life, typically 8 to 15 years for large white goods. A 7-year payback on a 12-year appliance leaves five years of pure saving; a 14-year payback on the same appliance loses money, however good the star rating looks.
The label carries the model's measured annual energy consumption in kWh, and that number — not the star count — is what you put into a payback calculation. Star bands are periodically tightened, so a 5-star model from several years ago may only rate 3 stars against the current table.
Use the marginal slab rate, the price of the next unit you consume. Savings come off the top of your consumption, so they are priced at your highest slab, which in tiered domestic tariffs can be well above the average rate printed on the bill.
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