How much electricity does a dishwasher use?
A dishwasher uses **239 kWh a year**. That is the median of 753 certified models. At the US average tariff that is about **$44 a year**. If you came here looking for a wattage, the honest answer is that there isn't one — and the next section explains why that is a fact about dishwashers rather than a gap in our research.
Work it out with your own tariff
Your rate, cents per kWh
There is no hours setting here, unlike the other device pages. This appliance is not certified in watts at all — only as a yearly total, and that total already includes a defined pattern of use. Multiplying it by hours of your own would count the usage twice.
| Period | Cost | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A year | $44 | 239 kWh — the measured figure |
| A month | $3.67 | a twelfth of the year |
| A day | $0.12 | a 365th of the year |
239 kWh × 18.44¢ = $44 a year. That averages 27 W drawn continuously.
239 kWh a year is the median of 753 certified dishwashers; the middle half fall between 234 and 240. That range is unusually tight because the specification sets a ceiling of 240 kWh — the spread describes what passes certification, not what exists on sale. Watts are not published for this appliance at all. Rate defaults to 18.44¢ (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2026-05) — a national average, which is wrong for you specifically, so put your own in above.
There is no published wattage, and that is not an oversight
A dishwasher is certified as a yearly total. No wattage is published for it, because the machine does several different things in one cycle — filling, heating water, pumping, and often heating air to dry — each drawing a different amount for a different length of time. There is no single figure that describes it while running.
Pages that answer "how many watts does a dishwasher use" with a number are quoting either the heating element's draw, or a nameplate maximum, or another page. None of those is what the appliance averages.
Averaged over the whole year, our measured 239 kWh works out to about 27 watts drawn continuously. That figure is real but useless for comparison, because a dishwasher is not on continuously — which is exactly the problem with treating a running-wattage as a yearly one.
What a single cycle costs
This is where most pages quietly invent a number. A per-cycle figure is the annual total divided by the number of cycles a year — and the certified data does not state how many cycles its test assumes. So rather than publish one figure resting on a hidden assumption, here is the arithmetic at several washing frequencies:
| How often you run it | Cycles a year | Energy per cycle | Cost per cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every other day | 180 | 1.33 kWh | 24.5¢ |
| Four times a week | 208 | 1.15 kWh | 21.2¢ |
| Five times a week | 260 | 0.92 kWh | 17.0¢ |
| Daily | 365 | 0.65 kWh | 12.1¢ |
At 18.44¢ per kWh. Note what this table really shows: if you run it more often, each cycle looks cheaper, because the yearly total is fixed by the measurement rather than by your habits. That is a limitation of dividing an annual figure, and it is the reason a single per-cycle number should be read sceptically wherever you find one.
The certified range is compressed by the rule, not by physics
The middle half of certified dishwashers fall between 234 and 240 kWh — almost no spread at all. That is because the ENERGY STAR specification caps certified standard dishwashers at 240 kWh a year, and manufacturers design to just under the cap.
So this data tells you what passes certification. It does not tell you the range of dishwashers on sale, and an uncertified model can sit well above 240. The federal minimum standard for comparison is 307 kWh.
What it costs you specifically
Set your own tariff below.
What this does not account for
Water heating may or may not be included, depending on your machine. The certified figure covers the electricity the dishwasher draws, including its internal heater. If your machine takes an external hot-water feed heated by a gas water heater, that gas is not in this figure at all.
The certified range is compressed by the specification, not by physics. The tight 234-240 band is the effect of a 240 kWh cap. Treat it as a description of certified models, not of the market.
Certified dishwashers are a biased sample. Certification is voluntary and efficient models earn it. An older machine uses more, and the federal minimum standard of 307 kWh is a better reference point for one.
Per-cycle figures rest on an assumed cycle count. The table above makes the assumption explicit precisely because it cannot be verified from the certified data.
Sources
- 01ENERGY STAR certified residential dishwashers — measured annual energy useU.S. Environmental Protection Agency ·
- 02Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 — average price of electricity to ultimate customersU.S. Energy Information Administration ·
How these figures are produced: see our methodology.
Figures are calculated from published wattages and a published tariff, both dated above. They are good for comparing devices, not for predicting your bill: your rate, settings and usage all differ.