How much does it cost to run a dishwasher?
About $4.80 a month on the typical usage below, at the U.S. average $0.1816/kWh. Set your own rate and usage and the figure updates instantly.
Most of a dishwasher's power goes to heating water and the drying element — ~1,200–2,400W during a cycle.
Running a dishwasher at 1.2 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week costs about
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A dishwasher's electricity bill is almost all about heat: a little runs the pump, but the big draw is heating the wash water and running the heated-dry element at the end. A typical cycle is a bit over an hour, so the daily cost depends mostly on how often you run it and which options you pick.
Skip the heated dry and the same machine costs noticeably less per load — the dishes get just as clean.
What drives the cost of running a dishwasher
- Heated dry can be a third of the cycle's energy — and it's optional.
- 'Heavy'/'sanitize' cycles heat more water and run longer than normal/eco.
- If your hot water is electric, the dishwasher's water heating shows up there too.
How to cut it
- Turn off heated dry and pop the door open to air-dry — biggest easy saving.
- Use the eco/normal cycle and only run full loads.
- Skip the pre-rinse-by-hand habit; scrape instead and let the machine do its job.
Data basis
- Electricity price
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B, June 2026 year to date, released 2026-08-26. Retrieved 2026-09-11. Average residential revenue per kWh. A benchmark average, not a utility tariff — it excludes the fixed charges, tiers, time-of-use windows, taxes and fuel adjustments on a real bill.
- Appliance energy
- A representative running power for a dishwasher, compiled from published manufacturer specifications and public appliance-energy guidance, and presented as a typical figure with the usual range shown above. It is not a measurement of your unit, and we do not claim a single primary source for it — the nameplate on your appliance, or an hour with a plug-in energy meter, beats any typical figure we can publish.
- Usage model
- Per cycle — 1.2 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week
- International prices
- rounded typical household tariffs for each market, in that market's own currency unless the row says US$ equivalent. These are planning benchmarks with no single primary source; enter the per-kWh price from your own bill for an accurate figure.
- Last reviewed
- 20 August 2026. Next scheduled review 20 February 2027.
- Corrections
- Think a figure is wrong? Tell us at corrections@watt-dollar.com and see our corrections policy.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a dishwasher per month?
On the assumption shown above — 1.2 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week — a dishwasher costs about $4.80 a month, or $57.61 a year, at $0.1816/kWh. That price is the U.S. average; set your own rate and usage above and the figure updates.
How is that worked out?
Energy per cycle x cycles per week, plus any standby draw between cycles. At 1.2 kWh a cycle, 5 cycles a week that is 0.87 kWh a day, which at $0.1816/kWh costs $0.16 a day.
How can I cut the cost of running a dishwasher?
Turn off heated dry and pop the door open to air-dry — biggest easy saving. As a worked example: running 4 cycles a week instead of 5 takes it from $57.61 to $46.25 a year, about $11.36 less.