When an electric bill creeps up, the culprit is not always a failing appliance. Often it is a handful of settings and routines around the refrigerator, dryer, washer, dishwasher, and cooking appliances. These changes are aimed at typical US homes and do not require replacing everything in the kitchen or laundry room.
Does this affect you?
Large appliances use a meaningful share of household electricity outside of heating and cooling. Refrigerators run around the clock, dryers pull a lot of power per cycle, and washers and dishwashers spend much of their energy heating water or drying with heat. Small setting changes can therefore have an outsized effect over a month.
The appliances that cost the most, and how to cut each
Start with the highest-impact items first. These are ranked roughly by how often they affect the monthly bill.
- Refrigerator: because it runs day and night, small temperature changes matter. Set the fresh-food section near 37 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer near 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Colder settings usually waste power without improving food safety. Clean the door gasket, make sure it seals tightly, and leave room behind the fridge so the coils can release heat.
- Clothes dryer: this is often the biggest single-cycle energy user. Clean the lint screen before every load and use the moisture-sensor cycle if the dryer has one. Sensor drying stops when the clothes are dry instead of running a full timed cycle after the load is already done.
- Washing machine: the motor is not the main energy cost; heating water is. Use cold water for normal laundry whenever the fabric and soil level allow it. Modern detergents are designed to work well in cold water for everyday loads.
- Dishwasher: turn off heated dry when possible and use air dry or no-heat dry instead. Run full loads because the dishwasher uses nearly the same amount of water and energy whether it is half full or properly loaded.
Habits that add up across every appliance
These changes are less dramatic one by one, but they stack across the whole house.
- Use smart power strips or unplug small appliances with constant standby lights, such as some coffee makers, microwaves, and laundry controls. Each one is small, but a kitchen full of standby loads can become noticeable.
- Run the washer and dishwasher during cheaper utility hours if your electric plan uses time-of-use pricing. Check the utility account dashboard because the lowest-rate window varies by plan.
- Keep the freezer reasonably full without blocking airflow. A fuller freezer holds cold better after the door opens, while a nearly empty freezer warms up faster.
- Descale appliances that heat water, especially in hard-water homes. Mineral buildup makes heating elements work longer to reach the same temperature.
For real numbers, use an inexpensive plug-in wattmeter for appliances that plug into a normal outlet. Let it measure for several days or a week, then compare the kilowatt-hours to your utility rate. This quickly shows whether the refrigerator, freezer, dehumidifier, or another plug-in device is actually responsible.
Also check your utility website. Many providers now show hourly or daily usage graphs. A repeated spike at the same time each day can point to a specific routine, such as evening laundry or cooking, instead of a general appliance problem.
Age matters too. A refrigerator or washer older than about 12 to 15 years can use far more electricity than a newer ENERGY STAR model even when it still runs. If monitoring shows an old fridge using unusually high power for its size, replacement may save more money than continued troubleshooting.
Sources
- US Department of Energy – Energy Saver: Appliances and Electronics (2025)
- ENERGY STAR – Save Energy at Home (2025)
- US EIA – Residential Energy Consumption Survey (2024)