I am not ashamed to say that I love my dishwasher and it is one of the most used appliances in my home.
But with Energy prices are likely to rise In the summer, I want to make some simple changes now that can mean energy savings, and therefore lower my energy bills down the line. Also I write about it How to save energy at home For a living, so I like to practice what I preach, viz Haven’t used my tumble dryer for a month To see how much I can save.
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How much money did I save by not using my dishwasher?
Switching to hand washing instead of using my dishwasher saved me just under £9 during March. For a bit of reference, I have a Beko DIS16R10 Integrated Dishwasher Which I use an average of eight times a week. I work from home, so I have dirty crockery and cutlery from breakfast, lunch and dinner and like to put the dishwasher in every evening. Depending on how much cleaning is needed, and whether I’m entertaining, I may run it more often or if I don’t have a full load, I’ll hold off until another day.
During the week, I’ll use the Eco setting, Quick & Shine, or Intensive mode, depending on how dirty the dishes are. To figure out how much energy I’ve saved by not using my dishwasher, my best estimate is that I use the intensive setting twice a week, and the other two modes three times a week.
According to the instruction manual for my dishwasher, here’s how much energy each program uses and how much each cycle costs based on the April 2026 energy price cap for electricity (which is 24.67p per kWh):
|
Program (Temperature/Duration) |
Energy Consumption (kWh) |
Cost per cycle |
|---|---|---|
|
Eco (50°C/239 min) |
0.73 |
18 p |
|
Fast and shiny (60°C/58 min) |
1.12 |
28 p |
|
Intensive (70°C/164 min) |
1.25 |
31 p |
And so each week, with three Eco programmes, three Quick & Shines and two Intensives, it costs my dishwasher £2 to run, and during the month of March, that adds up to around £8.86 per month. Over the course of a year, that’s more than £106.
Was the savings worth it?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
While the idea of saving over £100 on my energy bill over the course of the year is certainly appealing, switching to hand washing entirely is not realistic for me.
First, since childhood, I’ve had a strange aversion to certain types of foam that expand into things like bubbles from washing up liquid. And that meant I actually hated every second of doing laundry (but I grew up, so I kept going).
Second, combine that aversion with a lack of motivation after a particularly delicious and filling dinner (where I’ve used pretty much every single pan and pot I own) and I quickly find myself with a pile of dirty dishes on the side, which I hate. If I’m distracted after entertaining family friends, I’ll go to the kitchen before bed and tackle the dreaded stack, and then it’s like I won’t be able to sleep properly until I clean my way through it.
Frankly, I’d willingly pay £9 a month to avoid that.
Thirdly, I felt like I was washing the whole time. Even with a bright Scrub Mummy Sponge (£7.49 for two on Amazon) in the rope Fairy Skip The Soak Power Spray (3.86, Amazon) Hand in hand and a brand new pair Wash Gloves (£2.85, Amazon) To keep my bubble eye at bay, I quickly got sick of stacking up washes.
Scrub Daddy
Scrub the mom cleaning sponge
While I hate hand washing, I love anything that can help speed it up. This scrub mom is a half sponge, half scrubber (that softens in hot water and hardens in cold) that is perfect for any stubborn grime. Wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee.
Fairy
Ignore the soak power spray
Leaving things to dry means I put off cleaning them properly, and then I hate going back and doing it later. But I will spray this power spray on anything that looks good and is really toasty and leave it until last. Then it was a doddle to clean up.
Marigold
Unisex Extra Life Kitchen Gloves
Rubber gloves are a must for me and my weird bubble phobia and I love the durability of these. There’s no chance of getting bubbles through these bad boys!
Finally, there was the dishwasher Right there. I went to the expense of buying and installing a dishwasher and not using it seemed like a waste. And on those nights where there was a mountain of stuff to tackle and my spirits were down, I was definitely tempted to use it ‘just once’.
While I was up to the challenge of setting myself up, I didn’t think this was an energy-saving measure I would adopt long-term. Also, there is the cost of water to consider. When comparing water Cost of running a dishwasher for hand washingDishwashers come out really cheap.
However, if it cost significantly more per month to use the dishwasher, I would likely feel differently, and the potential cost savings would greatly outweigh the inconvenience of hand washing.
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