What a washing machine costs to run in Michigan

What a washing machine costs here

Across 7 plans priced in Michigan, a washing machine adds $9.24 to $16.28 a year — $0.77 to $1.36 a month. The median plan puts a washing machine at $15.11 a year.

Cheapest for a washing machine: Residential Service Secondary Non-Transmitting Meter Rate (RSM), Consumers Energy Co. Dearest: Residential Service Secondary Non-Transmitting Meter Rate (RSM), Consumers Energy Co.

Those 66 kWh are billed at 14.0¢–24.7¢, against a 24.2¢ whole-bill average on the median plan: they land in the last tier the household reaches, so the average rate understates them by up to 0.5¢ per kWh.

What Michigan homes use

EIA's 2020 residential survey found 66 kWh a year across 349 sampled homes that run one, near the national 69 kWh. The middle half spans 35 kWh to 77 kWh, so a washing machine varies by 42 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 — 87% of homes here.

That makes a washing machine about 1% of the electricity a Michigan home uses. The remaining 8,305 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 $4.92 on the cheapest plan. One in the heavier quarter runs it for 77 kWh and pays $10.92 — $6.00 more for a washing machine on the same tariff.

Limits

A 2020 survey average for Michigan, not a measurement of any one home, priced against the 7 Michigan tariffs WattClear has ingested — not every plan sold there.