Enter your dryer's energy use and electricity price to estimate its electricity cost per load, month, and year.
Energy details
Use and electricity price
17.30 cents per kWh is a 2025 US planning estimate. Replace it with your local bill rate when possible.
This is the usage-dependent electricity charge for one load. Fixed utility charges are excluded.
This uses the entered weekly load count and 52 weeks per year.
This excludes the dryer's purchase, maintenance, and fixed utility charges.
Table of contents
How to use our Dryer Electricity Cost Calculator
- Select "Use energy per load" if you measured the electricity used by one completed dryer cycle or found a kWh-per-load value in dryer documentation.
- Enter "Dryer energy per load (kWh)", "Electricity price (cents per kWh)", and "Dryer loads per week". Replace the planning-rate default with the usage rate from your utility bill when possible.
- Select "Estimate from power and time" only if you do not have energy per load but know the dryer's power, cycle length, and average power use.
- For that method, enter "Dryer power (W)", "Cycle length (minutes per load)", and "Average share of rated power used (percent)". A value of 100 means rated power is assumed for the whole cycle.
- Click "Calculate". The first result is the estimated electricity charge for one dryer load; monthly and annual results use your entered weekly load count.
- Enter 0 for "Dryer loads per week" if you want only the per-load cost. Monthly and annual costs will be $0.
Definitions
kWh (kilowatt-hour): A unit of electrical energy. Utility bills commonly charge for electricity by the kWh.
W (watts): A measure of power, or how quickly an appliance uses electricity. 1,000 W equals 1 kW.
Energy per load: The electrical energy used for one completed dryer cycle, measured in kWh per load.
Average share of rated power: Average power across a whole dryer cycle divided by the dryer's rated power, shown as a percent.
Usage-dependent electricity price: The cents charged for each kWh used. It excludes fixed customer and service charges. Electricity prices can vary by location and rate plan. [1]
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering 0.173 when the electricity price field asks for cents per kWh.
Fix: Enter 17.3 for an electricity price of 17.3 cents per kWh.
Mistake: Assuming the nameplate watt rating is used at full power for every minute of the cycle.
Fix: Use "Use energy per load" if you have measured kWh. Otherwise, enter a realistic value for "Average share of rated power used (percent)" and treat the result as a planning estimate.
Mistake: Timing a full laundry task instead of the dryer cycle.
Fix: Enter the time from starting the selected dryer cycle until that cycle ends. Do not include sorting, loading, or time when the dryer is off.
Mistake: Adding a fixed customer or service charge to the electricity price.
Fix: Enter only the usage-dependent cents-per-kWh rate. A fixed charge does not increase because of one more dryer load.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- This estimate covers usage-dependent electricity only. It excludes fixed utility charges, the dryer purchase price, repairs, and gas costs.
- Energy use can change with load size, fabric, starting moisture, washer spin speed, heat setting, vent condition, and room conditions.
- The power-and-time method is a planning estimate. A nameplate watt rating can be a maximum rating instead of the average power drawn during a cycle.
- Monthly cost is annual cost divided by 12, based on 52 weeks per year. Your laundry frequency may vary during the year.
- The default 17.30 cents per kWh is a 2025 US residential planning estimate. Replace it with the usage-dependent rate from your utility bill or rate plan. [1]
Methodology
Calculation method
The calculator first finds the energy used by one dryer load. With "Use energy per load", it uses your entered kWh value. With "Estimate from power and time", it converts watts to kilowatts and applies the entered average share of rated power.
energy per load (kWh) = power (W) * average power share / 100 * cycle length (minutes) / 60 / 1000
It multiplies energy per load by the electricity price. The price is entered in cents, so dividing by 100 converts the cost to dollars.
cost per load ($) = energy per load (kWh) * electricity price (cents per kWh) / 100
Annual loads equal weekly loads times 52. Annual cost is cost per load times annual loads, and monthly cost is annual cost divided by 12.
annual cost ($) = cost per load ($) * loads per week * 52
monthly cost ($) = annual cost ($) / 12
Worked example
A dryer using 3 kWh per load at 17.3 cents per kWh costs 3 * 17.3 / 100 = $0.5190 per load. At 3 loads per week, the annual estimate is $80.96 and the monthly estimate is $6.75 after rounding. Calculations use unrounded values before the results are displayed.