Electric dryers are heating elements with a drum. A typical household electric dryer sits near 3,000–5,000 watts while the element is on. The load cost is that draw times how long the cycle actually ran — including the extra 30 minutes people add “to be sure,” and wrinkle-prevent tumbling that keeps the motor going after the clothes are already dry.
Moisture in the load is the real timer. A washed-and-spun load finishes faster than a sopping one. Two back-to-back loads are two heating cycles, not one. Gas dryers still use some electricity for the motor and controls; Whatt’s dryer card is the electric-heat case unless you change watts to match what you have.
The expensive habit is not one Saturday load. It is extra dry time every day, or a second full load a week you did not need because the first one sat and wrinkled.
Whatt prices the cycle you set. You can mark a longer dry, a second load, or wrinkle-prevent as a what-if instead of guessing.
At 18.8¢ per kWh, a 4,000-watt element running 45 minutes is 3 kWh — about 0.56 that load. Thirty extra minutes is another 0.38. That is usage only, not the water that got the clothes wet.
Gas vs electric
On the dryer card, pick Gas dryer if the heat is gas. Then the total includes typical fuel, not just the 350-watt motor. Leaving it on electric heat while you own a gas dryer makes the estimate too high; the other way makes it too cheap.
What people mix up
Washer gallons are washer water. Washer motor heat is washer power. This page is the dry cycle after the spin.
Related
Usage estimate only — not a utility bill, load calc, or advice.