WattClear

What a humidifier costs to run in Colorado

Colorado homes use 186 kWh a year on a humidifier. Priced on top of the rest of the bill, that costs $13.80 to $30.40 a year across 5 published Colorado plans — a $16.60 gap. Checked September 2, 2026.

Not indexed. This page does not yet meet the site’s own publication threshold — 82.1% similar to /cost-to-run/refrigerator/colorado, limit 82%. It is shown because the data behind it is real, not because it is complete.

Every priced plan, average

Annual cost of each published plan, average, cheapest first
PlanPer yearvs cheapestEffective
Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR)✓ cheapestdemand charge$13.808.2¢
Residential Demand Service (Schedule RD)demand charge$18.10+$4.3012.0¢
Residential Energy Time Of Use (Schedule RE-TOU)time-of-use$28.63+$14.8316.6¢
Residential Service (Schedule R)time-of-use$30.08+$16.2817.3¢
Residential General Service Opt-Out (Schedule R-OO)time-of-use$30.40+$16.6017.6¢

Cost across usage levels

The cheapest plan at each consumption level, showing whether the ranking holds as usage changes.

  • Lighter use — cheapest $3.70 (Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR)), dearest $8.04, a $4.34 spread
  • Average — cheapest $13.80 (Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR)), dearest $30.40, a $16.60 spread
  • Heavier use — cheapest $18.93 (Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR)), dearest $41.76, a $22.83 spread

What a humidifier costs here

Across 5 plans priced in Colorado, a humidifier adds $13.80 to $30.40 a year — $1.15 to $2.53 a month. The median plan puts a humidifier at $28.63 a year.

Cheapest for a humidifier: Residential Demand - Time Differentiated Rates (Schedule RD-TDR), Public Service Co of Colorado. Dearest: Residential General Service Opt-Out (Schedule R-OO), Public Service Co of Colorado.

Those 186 kWh are billed at 7.4¢–16.3¢, against a 16.6¢ whole-bill average on the median plan, so on these plans the two rates are close.

What Colorado homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 186 kWh a year across 149 sampled homes that run one, 1.34× the national 139 kWh. The middle half spans 50 kWh to 256 kWh, so a humidifier varies by 206 kWh between one household and another.

Portable and whole-home humidifiers. That average covers homes with a humidifier — 40% of homes here, against 24% nationally.

That makes a humidifier about 2% of the electricity a Colorado home uses. The remaining 7,958 kWh is what a humidifier is billed on top of, and on a tiered or time-of-use plan that is what sets the rate it meets.

Light and heavy use of a humidifier

A household in the lighter quarter runs a humidifier for 50 kWh a year and pays $3.70 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 256 kWh and pays $18.93 — $15.23 more for a humidifier on the same tariff.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Colorado, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 5 Colorado tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.

New to these terms? The methodology page explains tiered bands, time-of-use periods and fixed charges, and sets out exactly what the rate engine assumes.

Estimate — your actual bill may differ.

Tariff structures from NREL/OpenEI Utility Rate Database (CC0 1.0), retrieved September 2, 2026.

Location resolved through the US Census Bureau Geocoder (Public domain) at 39.7392, -104.9903.