Most people file the washing machine under the water bill. The bigger cost hides in the dial you set without looking, because that dial decides how much water your water heater has to warm up.
Below: the setting that cuts a load's energy use in half, a bucket test for your shower, how to read the yellow label before you buy an appliance, and one number from June's electricity data.
Reply and tell us: what temperature does your washer usually run on? We read every one.
Hot Water Is Most of What Your Washer Costs to Run
Your washing machine's motor, pump, and electronics barely register on the bill. The expensive part is the water, and specifically warming it up.
About 90% of the energy a clothes washer uses goes to heating water, according to ENERGY STAR. That's why the temperature dial matters more than the brand, the size, or the cycle name.
ENERGY STAR also says switching from hot to warm can cut that energy use in half. Cold goes further still, since the water heater has almost nothing left to do.
TLDR: the dial is the bill. Hot to warm cuts a load's energy use about in half, and cold cuts it more.
Here's how to make cold your default without ruining anything:
Check the care label on the load you wash most often.
Set the dial to cold for everyday loads like t-shirts, jeans, and towels.
Save warm or hot for greasy work clothes and heavily soiled loads.
Leave the dial on cold when you're done, so the next load starts there.
Which bill drops depends on your water heater. An electric one shows the savings on your power bill, and a gas one shows them on your gas bill.
Renters in a building with a shared laundry room still control the dial, so this one works for you too. And if your own washer is old enough that you're eyeing a replacement, the machine matters as well. ENERGY STAR certified washers use about 14 gallons per load, compared with 20 for a standard machine, and about 20% less energy.
Showers pull from that same water heater, and they're a bigger draw. Showering is nearly 17% of indoor water use in the average home, per the EPA. The next section shows you how to check yours in under a minute.
The Bucket Test for Your Showerhead
Image: The Home Wire
Older showerheads often run at 2.5 gallons per minute. A WaterSense labeled showerhead uses no more than 2.0.
You can find out which one you have with a jug and your phone's stopwatch.
Grab a gallon jug. Any 1-gallon bucket or jug works, like a milk jug with the top cut off.
Turn it on full. Run the shower at full flow, the way you normally shower.
Time the fill. Hold the jug under the showerhead and count the seconds until it overflows.
Do the math. 60 divided by your seconds equals your gallons per minute.
If it fills in 24 seconds, you're at 2.5 gallons per minute. Thirty seconds is 2.0, and forty seconds is 1.5.
Building researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory check showers the same way, just faster. Over a 10-second test, a WaterSense showerhead should put out no more than 0.35 gallons.
Why bother? The EPA estimates a WaterSense showerhead saves the average family 2,700 gallons a year and more than 330 kilowatt-hours of electricity. That's energy your water heater would otherwise spend warming water that goes straight down the drain.
Renters can do this one too. Most showerheads unscrew from the arm, so keep the old one in a drawer and put it back when you move out.
How to Read the Yellow Label Before You Buy
Shopping for a washer, fridge, or water heater this fall? Look past the sticker price for a second and find the yellow EnergyGuide label.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, you'll find it on clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, TVs, and more. Three parts of it are worth reading:
Estimated yearly energy cost. The big dollar number, what the appliance should cost to run for a year.
The cost range bar. Where this model sits against similar models. Closer to the left end means cheaper to run than most.
Estimated yearly electricity use. The same thing in kilowatt-hours, which you can multiply by your own rate.
That dollar figure assumes typical use and a national average energy price. Your real cost depends on how often you run it and what your utility charges.
Two washers a few hundred dollars apart can look identical on the showroom floor. The label is where the running cost shows up, and you pay that cost for as long as you own the machine.
Here's a quick way to compare. Subtract one label's yearly cost from the other's, then multiply by the number of years you expect to keep the appliance. That's the real price gap between the two, and it can close the distance on a model that costs more up front.
Before you buy, ask the store or your utility about rebates. The FTC suggests checking for cash rebates, low-interest loans, and other incentive programs.
The Showerhead Swap We'd Start With
High Sierra's Classic Fixed Shower Head is the one we'd point you to if your bucket test came back near 2.5. It's $44.95 in chrome, it's solid lead-free metal, and you choose the flow rate when you order. Pick 1.5 gallons per minute.
Here's the math. The EPA's household estimate for a WaterSense swap is more than 330 kilowatt-hours a year. At June's national average of 18.34 cents per kilowatt-hour, that's about $60 a year in a home with an electric water heater, so the showerhead covers its cost in roughly nine months.
That estimate is based on a 2.0 showerhead, so a 1.5 setting should do at least as well. With a gas water heater, the dollar figure changes, but the water savings don't.
Lower flow feels different, though. The single nozzle throws large, heavy droplets instead of a fine mist, and not everyone loves that on day one. If you want more push, the same showerhead comes in 1.8, which is still WaterSense certified.
We haven't showered under this one ourselves. The price, flow options, and certifications come from High Sierra's own product page, and the savings use the EPA's numbers.
Links in this post may be affiliate links. The Home Wire may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.
Your Power Costs 5% More Than Last June
The national average residential electricity price hit 18.34 cents per kilowatt-hour in June, up from 17.47 cents in June 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's an increase of about 5% in a year.
Your own rate depends on your state and your utility, and it's printed on your bill as a price per kilowatt-hour. Look for a line like "energy charge" or "supply."
Some bills split the price into supply and delivery. Add the two together, and that's your real rate.
If your bill only shows a total, divide the electricity charge by the kilowatt-hours you used that month. A $150 charge for 900 kilowatt-hours works out to about 16.7 cents.
Some utilities also charge different rates by season, so check a summer bill and a winter bill if you have both. It takes two minutes, and it makes every tip here easier to price out.
Write that number down somewhere you'll find it. The EnergyGuide label uses a national average too, so your own rate gives you a truer running cost for every appliance you compare.
The bigger point for this week: every kilowatt-hour you don't spend heating water is worth a little more than it was a year ago.
One quick tap
How long is a typical shower at your place?
That's Tuesday: a dial, a jug, a yellow label, and one number worth writing down. None of it takes more than a few minutes, and two of the four cost nothing at all.
If someone in your house runs every load on hot, forward this to them. Gently.
See you tomorrow.
The Home Wire
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