The short version
- Electricity is capped at 26.32p per kWh from 1 October to 31 December 2026, so a 120W heated throw costs about 3.2p an hour to run.
- Four hours a night for a month on that same throw is roughly £3.79 of electricity.
- Under-blankets go on the mattress and warm the bed. Over-blankets and heated throws are the only ones meant to sit on top of you.
- Ofgem confirmed the October cap on 26 August 2026. Gas rose 8.7% and electricity 0.8%, because VAT was taken off domestic electricity for the winter. Every figure below is already on the new rate.
- Four of the six throws here publish no wattage at all on their Amazon listing, so you cannot work out what they cost to run from the page you buy them from.
Heated throws stopped being a novelty in this country the moment energy bills got serious. Ofgem confirmed the winter cap on 26 August 2026, and from 1 October electricity is 26.32p per kWh while gas is 7.97p. Gas rose 8.7% and electricity barely moved, because the government took VAT off domestic electricity until 31 March 2027. A throw at about 3.2p an hour is still a much easier sum than a radiator.
The catch with this category is that half the listings are near identical fleece rectangles with a different brand stitched on. What separates them is size, how many heat settings you actually get, whether the controller detaches for washing, and whether the thing is designed for a sofa or a mattress. Here are six that cover the sensible range, from a £20 under-blanket to a plush flannel throw.
How this guide was made: desk research, not a hands-on test. We shortlist on UK availability, compare published specifications and warranty terms, and read verified UK owner reviews, discounting incentivised ratings. Prices in the comparison table are pulled live from Amazon UK. Where we have tested something ourselves, we say so on the page.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (paid link)
Thinking about holding out for an autumn sale? Amazon has not announced October dates yet. Our Prime Big Deal Days 2026 page tracks what is confirmed and what today’s prices are.
Prices and specs last checked 6 September 2026 · next check 1 October 2026 · how we picked
How we picked these
We started from running cost. Wattage divided by 1,000, multiplied by Ofgem’s 26.32p per kWh, gives you pence per hour. A 60W throw is about 1.6p an hour, a 70W under-blanket about 1.8p, and a 120W throw about 3.2p. Anything claiming to heat a room for that money is claiming too much, because these products warm you, not the air around you.
After that we looked for the features Electrical Safety First actually asks for: overheat protection, a timer or automatic shut-off, and a controller you can detach so the blanket goes in the machine. We ruled out anything without a UK safety mark, anything second-hand, and anything where the heated panel was clearly smaller than the bed or sofa it claims to cover. Everything below is under £50 and available on Amazon UK.
One thing worth reading before you buy: an under-blanket sits flat on the mattress under the sheet and should never go on top of you, while a throw or over-blanket does the opposite. Electrical Safety First also says not to use an under-blanket on an adjustable bed.
At a glance
| Product | Best for | Type | Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silentnight Comfort Control Heated Throw | Overall | Throw | 120 x 160cm | around £45 |
| Purus Heated Throw | Spending least | Throw | Single throw | around £23 |
| Emperial Luxury Heated Blanket XL | Sharing a sofa | Throw | Extra large | around £38 |
| Bedsure Ribbed Flannel Heated Throw | A throw you leave out | Throw | 130 x 160cm | around £46 |
| Silentnight Dual Control Electric Blanket | A shared bed | Under-blanket | Double | around £38 |
| Carmen Double Heated Under Blanket | Warming a bed cheaply | Under-blanket | 120 x 107cm | around £20 |
The six worth looking at
Silentnight Comfort Control Heated Throw
Best overallSilentnight is the name most people in the UK already trust for this, and the Comfort Control is the version to get. Nine heat settings give you proper control rather than the usual low, medium and hot. It warms up in a couple of minutes, the fleece is thick enough to use as a normal throw when it’s unplugged, and the whole thing goes in the machine once the controller is off.
The catch: at 120 x 160cm it’s a one-person throw. Two of you on the sofa will end up tugging at it.
120 x 160cm · 9 heat settings · safety shut-off · around £45
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £45.00. The listing publishes no wattage, in the title, the bullets, the specification panel or the product details, so we cannot give this throw a cost per hour.
Check price on Amazon →Purus Heated Throw Electric Blanket
Best on a budgetJust over £20 buys you nine heat settings and a 12-hour timer, which is more than some throws twice the price offer. The micro fleece is soft on both sides and it’s machine washable. If you want to find out whether a heated throw suits you before spending £45, this is the low-risk way to do it.
The catch: the fleece is noticeably thinner than the Silentnight, so it feels more like a heated sheet than a blanket you’d curl up under.
9 heat settings · 12-hour timer · machine washable · around £23
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £22.99. No wattage published, so no cost per hour from us.
Check price on Amazon →Emperial Luxury Heated Blanket, Extra Large
Best for two on a sofaMost heated throws are sized for one person with their knees up. This one is deliberately oversized, which makes it the obvious pick if you and someone else want to be under the same blanket in the evening. It’s also the one to choose if you’re tall and tired of your feet sticking out of the heated bit.
The catch: there’s one controller for the whole blanket, so whoever runs colder has to win the argument.
Extra large · grey fleece · around £38
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £37.99. No wattage published, and the listing is the thinnest of the six on specifications generally.
Check price on Amazon →Bedsure Ribbed Flannel Heated Throw
Best one to leave on showThe reason to pay a bit more here is that it doesn’t look like an appliance. The ribbed flannel in cream reads as a normal throw over the arm of a sofa, and at 130 x 160cm it’s slightly wider than the Silentnight. Good choice if the alternative is hiding a heated blanket in a cupboard every time someone visits.
The catch: it’s the priciest throw here, and ribbed flannel is a magnet for pet hair.
130 x 160cm · ribbed flannel · cream · around £46
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £45.89, and the listing states 120W. At 26.32p per kWh that is 3.2p an hour. It is arithmetic on the maker’s own figure, not a measurement we made.
Check price on Amazon →Silentnight Dual Control Electric Blanket, Double
Best for a shared bedSplit controls are the whole point of this one. Each side of the bed gets its own controller and its own heat setting, which solves the most common argument about electric blankets. Elasticated straps hold it flat to the mattress so it doesn’t ruck up in the night, and you make the bed over the top of it as normal.
The catch: three heat settings only, so the step from low to medium is a big one.
Double · under-blanket · 3 heat settings · split controls · around £42
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £42.49, up from £37.99 when we priced it on 22 August. No wattage published, so no cost per hour. The price rise is dated and real, not a sale ending.
Check price on Amazon →Carmen Double Heated Under Blanket
Best cheap under-blanketAt 70W this is the one product here with its power draw printed on the box, which works out at about 1.8p an hour at the current cap rate. Overheat protection is built in, it’s a double, and it costs less than a takeaway. Switch it on twenty minutes before bed and turn it off when you get in, which is how most people should be using an under-blanket anyway.
The catch: the heated area is 120 x 107cm, so on a standard 135 x 190cm double your feet will be off the warm bit.
70W · 120 x 107cm · overheat protection · around £20
Behind this verdict: the product listing, read 6 September 2026, priced at £19.99, and the title states 70W. At 26.32p per kWh that is 1.8p an hour, again arithmetic on the maker’s figure rather than a meter reading.
Check price on Amazon →What it costs to run
Work it out yourself with the wattage on the label. Watts divided by 1,000, times 26.32p, gives pence per hour at the cap rate for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
| Rating | Per hour | 4 hours a night for 30 nights |
|---|---|---|
| 60W | 1.6p | £1.90 |
| 70W | 1.8p | £2.21 |
| 100W | 2.6p | £3.16 |
| 120W | 3.2p | £3.79 |
| 180W | 4.7p | £5.69 |
Both of those things have now happened. Ofgem set the October to December cap on 26 August 2026, and the government removed VAT from domestic electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. They roughly cancelled each other out. Electricity went from 26.11p to 26.32p, a rise of 0.8%, while gas went from 7.33p to 7.97p, a rise of 8.7%. We track the rates on our October 2026 price cap page.
The number that is missing from most listings
Every running cost on this page starts with a wattage, so on 6 September 2026 we opened all six listings and went looking for one. Two of the six publish it. The Carmen under-blanket puts 70W in its title, and Bedsure states 120W in its own listing copy. The other four say nothing about power in the title, the bullets, the specification panel or the product details.
That leaves a trap worth naming, because we keep seeing it repeated as fact. Call it the centimetre watt. Amazon prints the size of a throw as something like 160L x 130W centimetres, and the W in that line means width. On most of these listings it is the only W on the page, and it is not a power rating. A running cost built on it would be a coincidence dressed up as arithmetic.
So we have not printed a per-hour cost for four of the six, because we would have had to invent the input. Where the maker publishes a figure we use it. Where nobody does, we say so instead of borrowing a number from a product that looks similar.
Prices moved as well. We priced the same six on 22 August and again on 6 September. Five sat within a few pence of where they started. The Silentnight Dual Control double under-blanket went from £37.99 to £42.49, a rise of 11.8% in fifteen days, which is what the run-up to the heating season does to a bestseller.
For what the rest of the winter kit costs at the same rate, see our heated airer running costs, our electric heaters ranked by cost per hour and the UK running cost index.
FAQ
How much does a heated throw cost to run?
Around 1.6p to 3.2p an hour for most of them, based on Ofgem’s 26.32p per kWh electricity rate for 1 October to 31 December 2026. Use the wattage on the label rather than the marketing copy, and check there is a wattage at all, because four of the six throws in this guide publish none.
Is a heated throw cheaper than putting the heating on?
If you’re sitting still in one room, yes, by a wide margin. A throw heats one person and a boiler heats the whole house. What a throw won’t do is keep the room above the temperature you need to stop condensation and damp, so it’s a supplement to heating rather than a replacement for it.
Can you leave an electric blanket on all night?
Only if the manufacturer says it’s designed for it. Plenty of under-blankets are meant to warm the bed and then be switched off, and using one that isn’t rated for overnight use is how people get into trouble. Check the instructions, and pick something with a timer if you’re likely to fall asleep with it on.
Over-blanket, under-blanket or heated throw?
Under-blankets sit flat on the mattress and warm the bed from below. Over-blankets lie on top of you in bed. Heated throws are the portable version and work on a sofa or a chair as well as a bed. Never use an under-blanket on top of yourself, and Electrical Safety First advises against using one on an adjustable bed.
Can you wash an electric blanket?
Most modern ones, yes, once you’ve unplugged the controller and detached the lead. Check the label first. Never put one in a tumble dryer unless it explicitly says you can, and make sure it’s completely dry before it goes anywhere near a socket.
How old is too old for an electric blanket?
Check yours every autumn before it goes back on the bed. Frayed wires, scorch marks, a controller that buzzes or smells, or any sign of rodent damage from summer storage all mean it gets replaced rather than repaired. Electrical Safety First found that accidental electric blanket fires in England hit a five-year high of 31 incidents in 2024/25, up 24% on the year before.
Sources
- Ofgem, Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges
- Electrical Safety First, Electric blanket safety advice
- Electrical Safety First, Concerns as electric blanket fires hit five year high
Prices were correct when we checked on 22 August 2026 and change often. We earn a commission on some links, which doesn’t affect what makes this list.
Our heated throw pick also features in the UK Student Kit Index, where we price the full 20-item student room kit every year.