Enter your dryer's energy use and electricity rate to estimate its cost per load and your usual monthly and yearly electric cost.
Advanced options
Table of contents
How to use our Dryer Running Cost Calculator
- Choose "Use energy per load" if your dryer manual, product information, or energy meter gives the electricity used for one load in kWh.
- Enter "Dryer energy per load (kWh)," "Dryer loads per week," and "Electricity rate (cents per kWh)." A rate without a unit is treated as cents per kWh; you can also enter a marked rate such as $0.1831/kWh.
- Choose "Estimate from power and time" only when you do not have kWh per load. Enter "Dryer power (watts)" and "Average drying time (minutes per load)." The calculator also accepts marked entries such as 5 kW and 0.75 h.
- Replace the prefilled electricity planning estimate with the usage rate from your electric bill or utility tariff when you can find it.
- Select "Calculate." Start with "Estimated dryer cost per load," then use the monthly and yearly estimates to plan for your usual laundry routine.
- If a small nonzero cost displays as zero, open "Advanced options" and choose more "Cost decimal places."
Definitions
kWh (kilowatt-hour): A unit of electrical energy. Dryer energy used for one load is measured in kWh.
Watt: A unit of power, meaning how fast the dryer can use energy. 1,000 watts equal 1 kilowatt.
Electricity rate: The price of electricity use, usually shown in cents per kWh on an electric bill or utility tariff.
Energy per load: The electricity used to dry one load. A documented or measured kWh value is more direct than an estimate based on rated power and time.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering watts as though they were kWh per load.
Fix: Choose "Use energy per load" only when you have a kWh-per-load value. Otherwise select "Estimate from power and time" and enter both power and drying time.
Mistake: Typing an ambiguous electricity rate such as 1,8.
Fix: Use a decimal point for cents per kWh, such as 18.31, or enter a marked dollar rate such as $0.1831/kWh.
Mistake: Treating rated power times time as a measured energy reading.
Fix: Use documented or measured kWh per load when available. Dryer heating can cycle on and off, so rated power multiplied by time can overstate energy use.
Mistake: Using a fixed monthly utility charge as the electricity rate.
Fix: Enter the price per kWh that applies to electricity use. Fixed customer charges do not usually increase because of one extra dryer load.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- This calculator estimates electricity cost for an electric clothes dryer. It does not calculate natural gas or propane fuel cost.
- The power-and-time method assumes the entered power is drawn for the full drying time. A dryer can cycle its heating elements on and off, so this is an estimate.
- Monthly cost is an average based on 52 weeks per year divided by 12 months. Laundry use can vary from month to month.
- The calculation uses an electricity usage rate and does not assign fixed monthly utility customer charges to each dryer load.
- The prefilled electricity rate is a US planning estimate. Your bill, tariff, time-of-use period, taxes, and delivery charges can produce a different cost for added electricity use.
Methodology
Cost calculation
The calculator first finds energy used for one load. With "Use energy per load," it uses your entered kWh value. With "Estimate from power and time," it converts watts to kilowatts and minutes to hours.
energy per load (kWh) = dryer power (watts) / 1000 * drying time (minutes) / 60
A rate entered without a unit is cents per kWh. A marked $/kWh rate is converted to cents per kWh before calculation. The prefilled 18.31 cents per kWh is a July 2026 US residential planning estimate from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. [1]
cost per load ($) = energy per load (kWh) * electricity rate (cents per kWh) / 100
yearly cost ($) = cost per load ($) * loads per week * 52
monthly cost ($) = yearly cost ($) / 12
Worked example
For 3.2 kWh per load, an electricity rate of 18.31 cents per kWh, and 5 loads per week, the cost per load is $0.58592. The yearly estimate is $152.3392, and the average monthly estimate is $12.6949333333 before display rounding.
A utility bill can include charges beyond the amount that changes with one more kWh of use. A bill-average rate may therefore differ from the added cost of one dryer load. [2]