How much does an electric clothes dryer cost per month in Virginia?

About $11.47 a month, assuming 3.00 kWh per cycle, 5 cycles a week at 17.64¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an electric clothes dryer use?

Roughly 780 kWh a year under these assumptions.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $142 a year.

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Cost to run an electric clothes dryer in Virginia (August 2026 rates)

At 17.64¢ per kilowatt-hour — Virginia's average residential price in August 2026 — running an electric clothes dryer costs $138 a year. That is 3% less than the national average of $142. Virginia's residential rate is up 11.3% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $124 to $138 a year.

Per cycle: 52.9¢
Per day: 37.7¢
Per month: $11.47
Per year: $138

Assumption: 3.00 kWh per cycle, 5 cycles a week — 780 kWh a year. A standard vented electric dryer. Heat-pump dryers use roughly half this per load. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Virginia compares

Virginia pays 17.64¢/kWh, the 20th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $4.06 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same electric clothes dryer costs $99.22 a year in Nevada and $368 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $269 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Colorado	17.17¢	$11.16	$134
Minnesota	17.20¢	$11.18	$134
Virginia	17.64¢	$11.47	$138
Delaware	18.70¢	$12.16	$146
Illinois	19.32¢	$12.56	$151

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an electric clothes dryer.

What else costs about the same in Virginia

Portable air conditioner$149 a year in VA Space heater$152 a year in VA Window air conditioner$122 a year in VA

Cutting the number down

The spin speed of the washer sets the dryer's workload. A faster final spin removes water mechanically instead of thermally, which is far cheaper.
A blocked lint screen or crushed vent hose makes every load run longer at full heat.
Back-to-back loads reuse a drum that is already hot.

Questions

How much does an electric clothes dryer cost per month in Virginia?: About $11.47 a month, assuming 3.00 kWh per cycle, 5 cycles a week at 17.64¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an electric clothes dryer use?: Roughly 780 kWh a year under these assumptions.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $142 a year.