What your laundry actually costs

Laundry is mostly a water-heating bill with some clothes in it. Put your own habits in and see what the year actually costs you.

Put your numbers in. See the year. Then see what cold water saves you.

Loads per week Usual wash temperature How you dry it Where you are Your electricity rate $ per kWh

— a year, for 5 loads a week

—washing

—drying

—kWh a year

What each change is worth

The drying figure assumes every load goes in the dryer — if you only tumble some of them, scale it down by eye. Every number below is a typical figure for a domestic machine, not a measurement of yours: an old machine, a half-full drum or hard water push it up, a new efficient one pulls it down. The provincial rates are approximate blended residential averages, and published figures differ by a few cents depending on the source and the month — your own bill is the real number, so put it in. Treat the output as an order of magnitude, not a bill. Figures as of August 2026.

The numbers behind it

Per load	Electricity	Why
Cold — 20–30°C / 70–85°F	0.45 kWh	Barely any heating. This is where most of your laundry belongs.
Warm — 40°C / 105°F	0.85 kWh	The default nobody chose. Roughly double a cold wash.
Hot — 60°C / 140°F	1.4 kWh	Earns its keep on towels, bedding and illness. Not on jeans.
Very hot — 90°C / 195°F	2.2 kWh	Almost never necessary in a domestic machine.
Drying rack / clothesline	0 kWh	Free, and by a distance the biggest saving available to you.
Heat-pump dryer	2.2 kWh	Around half the electricity of a conventional dryer for the same load.
Vented or condenser dryer	4.5 kWh	The single hungriest appliance in most homes, per hour of use.

Default electricity rates

Alberta — Alberta is the only deregulated retail market in the country, with no regulated rate — so it swings more than anywhere else. Roughly 22.9¢/kWh, July 2026.
British Columbia — BC Hydro, roughly 11.0¢/kWh — among the cheapest in North America.
Manitoba — Manitoba Hydro, roughly 10.2¢/kWh — with Quebec, the lowest in the country.
New Brunswick — NB Power, roughly 15.2¢/kWh.
Newfoundland & Labrador — Newfoundland Power, roughly 13.0¢/kWh.
Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia Power, roughly 18.6¢/kWh.
Ontario — Ontario Energy Board Regulated Price Plan, roughly 17.0¢/kWh blended across the day.
Prince Edward Island — Maritime Electric, roughly 19.0¢/kWh.
Quebec — Hydro-Québec, roughly 8.3¢/kWh — the cheapest electricity in North America, which is why a dryer costs a Quebecer a third of what it costs an Albertan.
Saskatchewan — SaskPower, roughly 18.6¢/kWh — though published blended figures for Saskatchewan vary more than most, so check your bill.
United States — US average residential price, EIA, August 2026: 18.44¢/kWh. State by state it ranges from about 11¢ to over 40¢.
United Kingdom — Ofgem price cap unit rate, 1 July – 30 September 2026: 26.11p/kWh.
Europe (rough average) — A rough EU household average. Rates vary enormously by country, so put your own in.

Sources