Household wires and cables transfer electricity very efficiently. That means they don’t lose much of the energy as heat on the way. The electricity flows freely from the plug and is transferred into other forms of energy in household appliances, like toasters, lights and CD players.

Heating elements

The heating element in a toaster is made from a special wire different to wire in the power cables. The wire in the heating element transfers lots of its electrical energy into thermal energy and gets very hot. Exactly what you need to make toast or run an electric heater.

Energy efficiency

In most uses of electricity we don't want to produce heat. Any heat that is produced is wasted energy. Appliances that transfer less of the electricity they use into wasted heat are more energy efficient.

For example energy efficient light bulbs transfer less of their energy into heat. They also use less energy than normal bulbs to produce the same amount of light. So the energy efficient light bulb wastes less energy.