Dishwasher electricity cost

Estimate the electricity each dishwasher load uses and costs, and what your loads add up to each week, month and year, from the energy your dishwasher uses per cycle.

Calculator

Appliance type

Used as the name in your comparison. It does not fill in any values.

Energy per cycle (kWh)

From the label, manual or a plug-in energy monitor, for the program you use.

Cycles per week

Loads or runs per week. Decimals are fine, for example 3.5.

Electricity price per kWh

From your bill or supplier. Use the price per kWh, for example 0.15.

Currency

Changes the currency symbol only. No exchange rates are applied.

How to find your price on your bill

Where your bill shows them, add up the charges billed per kWh, such as supply (or generation) and delivery. These are the charges that grow when an appliance runs.
Leave out fixed monthly charges, such as a customer or service charge. They generally stay the same however much electricity you use.
If the price is in cents, divide by 100: 15.5¢ per kWh is 0.155.
Only a total amount and total kWh? Dividing the amount by the kWh gives a rough all-in average. Because it includes fixed fees and taxes, it may overestimate the extra cost of running an appliance.
If your price changes by time of day or with how much you use, enter the price that applies to most of your use.

For comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes average electricity prices by state. Your own bill gives a closer estimate.

Fill in the fields above to see your estimate.

Estimated results

Fill in the fields to see the estimated energy use and cost.

How the estimate works

Weekly energy = kWh per cycle × cycles per week. A year is the weekly figure × 365 ÷ 7, an average month is a year ÷ 12 and an average day is a week ÷ 7, the same conventions used everywhere on this site. Cost = energy (kWh) × your price per kWh. The results are estimates: actual use varies with your dishwasher, the cycle you choose, whether you use heated drying, how full you load it and how often you run it.

Example (illustrative only)

A dishwasher using 1.2 kWh per cycle, run 5 times a week, at $0.20 per kWh. These are example figures, not a typical dishwasher or a current U.S. average rate, so enter your own.

Per cycle: 1.2 kWh, costing 1.2 × $0.20 = $0.24.
Week: 1.2 kWh × 5 cycles = 6 kWh, costing $1.20.
Average day: 6 kWh ÷ 7 = 0.86 kWh, costing $0.17.
Average month: 312.86 kWh ÷ 12 = 26.07 kWh, costing $5.21.
Year: 6 kWh × 365 ÷ 7 = 312.86 kWh, costing $62.57.

Finding your kWh per cycle

Check the manual or the manufacturer's specifications for the energy used by the cycle you run.
If a figure is given per year along with the number of cycles a year it assumes, divide the yearly kWh by that number of cycles.
If your dishwasher takes hot water from your home's water heater, the energy to heat that water is used by the water heater. Whether a published figure includes it depends on how it was measured, so check where your figure comes from.

ENERGY STAR limits are not real-world use

ENERGY STAR's key product criteria for dishwashers cap rated energy use at 240 kWh a year for standard models (at least 8 place settings plus 6 serving pieces) and 155 kWh a year for compact models, with standby energy included. These are maximums for certification, measured with a standard U.S. Department of Energy test. They are not what a dishwasher uses in your home, so use your own kWh per cycle for this estimate. See ENERGY STAR's dishwashers page for certified models.

Frequently asked questions

Does heated drying use more electricity?

Yes. Heated drying uses an electric heater after the wash, which adds to the energy of each cycle. If you usually use heated drying, use a kWh per cycle that includes it.

Is a cycle the same as a load?

For this calculator, yes: count each time you run the dishwasher as one cycle.

Does the estimate include water or detergent?

No. It covers electricity only. Water, sewer and detergent costs are not included.

Why isn't the year exactly 52 weeks?

A 365-day year is 365 ÷ 7 = about 52.14 weeks, so the year is slightly more than 52 times the weekly figure.

Doing laundry too? Use the washing machine electricity cost calculator and the clothes dryer running cost calculator. The methodology explains every formula and rounding rule.