Cost to run a tumble dryer
A typical cycle uses 2.15 kWh, which costs 56.5p at 26.32p/kWh. At 2 cycles a week, that comes to £58.96 a year.
Each cycle costs
56.5p a cycle
That is 2.15 kWh. Used as set, it comes to £4.91 a month and £58.96 a year.
On the energy label, or in the manual for the programme you use.
| Period | Cost | Energy | CO2e |
|---|---|---|---|
| A cycle | 56.5p | 2.15 kWh | 467 g |
| A week | £1.13 | 4.30 kWh | 934 g |
| A month | £4.91 | 18.7 kWh | 4.1 kg |
| A year | £58.96 | 224 kWh | 48.7 kg |
How we calculated this
Each cycle uses 2.15 kWh, the kind of figure an energy label or test gives for a whole cycle, heating and all. A hotter or longer programme uses more.
The figures are for ENERGY STAR certified models sold in the US and Canada. Certified models are more efficient than the average model on sale, and many are larger than the ones sold in Europe, so an older or less efficient one will use more. These are electric vented dryers. The energy for a load is ENERGY STAR’s annual figure divided by the 283 cycles it is based on. The power is Centre for Sustainable Energy’s average rating, with the ends of Virginia Tech’s range for a clothes dryer. The starting number of loads is between the survey’s winter and summer medians, because most households barely use a dryer in summer.
The starting use for a tumble dryer, 2 cycles a week, is where the calculator starts, not a measurement of your home: change it to how you use yours. A day is the average across the week, and a month is a twelfth of a 365-day year.
Electricity costs 26.32p/kWh. That is the published figure for the United Kingdom, 1 Oct – 31 Dec 2026, from Ofgem. Average for England, Scotland and Wales, paying by Direct Debit. No VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.
Standing charges are left out: you pay them whether or not the appliance runs.
Emissions use 0.217 kg CO2e per kWh, the lifecycle intensity of electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2025, from Ember, via Our World in Data. Lifecycle means building the power stations and supplying their fuel are counted too. It is the grid’s average, not the particular power station an extra appliance brings on.
What drives the cost
A tumble dryer is one of the most expensive things in the laundry room to run, because it heats a large volume of air for as long as the clothes are damp. Across 353 certified vented models a load uses 2.15 kWh in a test cycle of about 67 minutes, which costs 56.5p at 26.32p/kWh.
Also called: clothes dryer, dryer, vented dryer.
What it costs in the UK, Europe and the US
For a tumble dryer used as typical (2 cycles a week), at each country’s published average electricity price.
| Country | Electricity price | A cycle |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 26.32p/kWh | 56.5p |
| United States (average) | 18.19¢/kWh | 39.1¢ |
| Ireland | €0.4042/kWh | €0.87 |
| Germany | 0,3869 €/kWh | 0,83 € |
| France | 0,2561 €/kWh | 0,55 € |
| Spain | 0,2669 €/kWh | 0,57 € |
| Italy | 0,2966 €/kWh | 0,64 € |
| Netherlands | € 0,2558/kWh | € 0,55 |
Compared with similar appliances
| Appliance | Typical power | An hour | A year, typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tumble dryer | 2,500 W | — | £58.96 |
| Condenser tumble dryer | 1,003 W | — | £30.74 |
| Washing machine | 2,100 W | — | £20.84 |
| Clothes iron | 1,500 W | 39.5p | £20.59 |
How to spend less on it
- Dry outside or on a rack when you can, and keep the dryer for the loads you cannot dry any other way.
- Spin the wash fast first: clothes that come out drier need less time in the dryer.
- Clean the filter after every load: a blocked filter makes every load run longer.
- Dry full loads, and do not overfill the drum: a crowded drum takes longer to dry.
Questions
How much does a tumble dryer cost per cycle?
A typical cycle uses 2.15 kWh, which costs 56.5p at 26.32p/kWh.
How much does a tumble dryer cost to run a year?
Used 2 cycles a week, it costs about £58.96 a year at 26.32p/kWh, or £4.91 a month.
How many watts does a tumble dryer use?
Most draw between 1,800 W and 5,000 W while running, and 2,500 W is typical. The rating is on the label or in the manual.
How much does a tumble dryer cost per load?
A load in a certified vented dryer uses 2.15 kWh, which costs 56.5p at 26.32p/kWh. A ventless dryer uses much less, and an older or bigger vented one, or a wetter load, uses more.
How often do people use a tumble dryer?
The UK government’s Energy Follow-Up Survey found a median of three loads a week in winter, and three quarters of dryer owners used it once a week or not at all in summer. The starting figure here sits between the two.
Sources
- ENERGY STAR Certified Residential Clothes Dryers (open data), ENERGY STAR, US Environmental Protection Agency, 26 September 2026. “ENERGY STAR certified electric vented dryers, energy per load: median 2.15 kWh a load across 353 certified models, 10th to 90th percentile 2.15 kWh a load to 2.15 kWh a load (models where product_type='Electric Standard Vented').”
- How much electricity am I using?, Centre for Sustainable Energy, July 2026. “Tumble Dryer (2500 W)”
- ENERGY SERIES: Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, 26 February 2020. “Clothes dryer = 1800–5000”
- Energy Follow-Up Survey 2011, Report 9: Domestic appliances, cooking & cooling equipment, BRE for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, December 2013. “the median number of drying loads per week is 3 in the winter”
- Energy Follow-Up Survey 2011, Report 9: Domestic appliances, cooking & cooling equipment, BRE for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, December 2013. “75% of households with tumble dryers use them once per week or not at all during the summer”
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