What a washing machine costs to run in Colorado

What a washing machine costs here

Across 5 plans priced in Colorado, a washing machine adds $4.91 to $10.72 a year — $0.41 to $0.89 a month. The median plan puts a washing machine at $10.10 a year.

Cheapest for a washing machine: 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 66 kWh are billed at 7.5¢–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 66 kWh a year across 320 sampled homes that run one, near the national 69 kWh. The middle half spans 35 kWh to 82 kWh, so a washing machine varies by 47 kWh between one household and another.

The washer's own motor and controls. Heating the water is billed to the water heater, not here. That average covers homes with a washing machine — 85% of homes here.

That makes a washing machine about 1% of the electricity a Colorado home uses. The remaining 8,078 kWh is what a washing machine 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 washing machine

A household in the lighter quarter runs a washing machine for 35 kWh a year and pays $2.64 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 82 kWh and pays $6.12 — $3.48 more for a washing machine 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.