How much a tumble dryer cycle costs in winter, by technology

An 8 kg tumble dryer cycle costs in October 2026 about €0.24 with a heat pump and over €0.60 with a condenser or vented dryer, before tax, according to an analysis of electricity prices published on 14 November. With tax, the figures rise to about €0.30 for the heat pump, €0.78 for the condenser and €0.81 for the vented model. Energy efficiency expert Ángel Blázquez agrees: he puts the cost of a cycle in a good heat pump dryer at around 30 cents on a standard tariff.

With four cycles a week, the difference is around €80 a year between the heat pump and the other two technologies. Compared with the condenser, the analysis calculates about €77 less a year.

How much each cycle costs by technology

The calculation is based on the per-cycle consumption of an 8 kg tumble dryer according to the European product database (EPREL), using the median of registered models, checked on 6 November 2026: 1.2 kWh for a heat pump, 3.07 kWh for a condenser and 3.20 kWh for a vented dryer. The average PVPC price in October was 19.92 cents per kWh, before tax and including network and other regulated charges, and it is the average of the hourly prices published by Red Eléctrica for that month.

With four cycles a week, about 17 a month and 208 a year, the heat pump comes to €0.24 per cycle, €4.14 a month and €50 a year. The condenser costs €0.61 per cycle, €10.60 a month and €127 a year. The vented dryer reaches €0.64 per cycle, €11.05 a month and €133 a year. None of these amounts include tax or the power charge.

With a free-market tariff the figure changes, because you have to multiply the kWh by your contract price. In addition, the label gives an average consumption that mixes full and half loads, with three cycles at full capacity and four at half load on the eco programme, so with a full drum the cost will be somewhat higher.

What Ángel Blázquez says about the heat pump

Blázquez is a popular science communicator who runs the Electro_angel_oficial channel. He maintains that older ones used more than twice as much. He explains how it works with an image: “A heat pump dryer is like a fridge turned upside down”. It recirculates heat using a compressor and a refrigerant gas circuit that condenses the moisture.

According to the expert, this system dries at a lower temperature, so clothes shrink less and delicate items suffer less. He also warns that placing the appliance in an unheated gallery at sub-zero temperatures in January, or in an unventilated room, slows the compressor down.

On maintenance, Blázquez is blunt: “With the filter and the condenser clogged with lint, the air doesn’t circulate, it takes twice as long, uses twice as much and one day the electronics say ‘enough is enough’”. On combined machines he says: “A washer-dryer in a single appliance washes worse than a washing machine and dries worse than a tumble dryer”.

Why the heat pump uses less than half the energy and takes longer

Vented and condenser dryers heat the air with an electric element and that heat is not reused. The vented dryer expels the humid air through a hose; the condenser dryer cools it inside the appliance and collects the water in a tank. The heat pump, by contrast, reuses the heat from the air in a closed circuit, using a system similar to that of a fridge.

The price of that saving is time. In the 8 kg models from the European database taken as an example, the eco programme with a full load lasts 2:54 hours with a heat pump, compared with 2:14 with a condenser and 2:09 with a vented dryer.

What changed in July 2025

Since July 2025, new tumble dryers placed on the market in the EU must be class E or better. That rules out vented dryers and almost all condenser dryers with a heating element. The rule affects appliances reaching the market, not those already in homes: the dryer you have at home can keep working.

The energy label also changed that month. It runs from A, the most efficient, to G, and shows consumption in kWh per 100 cycles, measured on the eco programme. In the European database, all 8 kg vented dryers with the new label are class G, as are most condenser dryers, while heat pump models are concentrated in C, D and E.

Off-peak hours and electricity prices: when it is cheapest

With the PVPC, a cycle in off-peak hours costs close to a third less than at peak times. In October 2026 the kWh cost on average 17.79 cents off-peak and 26.36 cents at peak times, before tax. A heat pump cycle comes to about €0.21 off-peak and €0.32 at peak; a condenser cycle, €0.55 and €0.81.

With time-of-use pricing, off-peak hours run from 00:00 to 08:00 on weekdays and last all day on Saturdays, Sundays, 6 January and national holidays that fall on a fixed date, such as 1 May. Using them only pays off if the tariff changes price by the hour; with a flat rate only the price per kWh counts. If the dryer has a delayed start, it can be programmed for those hours.

Today’s prices, 14 November, with the PVPC in peninsular Spain, show the gap. According to a comparison site using ESIOS data, the average price is 18.28 ct/kWh, with the cheapest hour from 13:00 to 14:00 (5.41 ct/kWh) and the most expensive from 19:00 to 20:00 (24.77 ct/kWh). Those time bands apply only to this day. A full heat pump cycle of 1.8 kWh (different from the 1.2 kWh figure in the European database, which is a median for 8 kg models) costs on average €0.329: €0.097 at 13:00 and €0.446 at 19:00. For a 3.30 kWh condenser dryer, the cost is €0.179 at 13:00, €0.603 on average and €0.817 at 19:00. With three drying cycles a week, the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest hour of that day is equivalent to about €54 a year.

Habits to spend less on each cycle

Blázquez sums it up like this: “The dryer removes moisture, not water; the water is removed by the spin cycle of your washing machine”. Putting in dripping clothes sends drying time and cost soaring. The IDAE calculates that, after a 1,000 rpm spin, clothes retain 60% moisture, and that 6 kg of cotton comes out of the washing machine with about 3.5 litres of water that the dryer has to remove.

The IDAE’s advice is to spin at the maximum speed in the washing machine, fill the drum, sort clothes without mixing heavy cotton with light garments, clean the filter regularly and use the humidity sensor and, if it has one, the iron-dry programme. With a condenser or vented dryer, these habits matter more in euros, because they start from a higher consumption.

How to calculate the cost of your own dryer

The label or its QR code leads to the model’s page in the European database, where the per-cycle consumption is listed. On the new label you need to divide the consumption per 100 cycles by 100 and multiply by the price per kWh on your bill. For example, 3.07 kWh at €0.20 per kWh gives about €0.61 per cycle before tax. If the dryer predates July 2025, its old label gave an annual consumption, so you need to look up the model in the European database or in the manual.

The smart meter records consumption hour by hour and your distributor shows it in its customer area, where you can see the jump on dryer days. Comparing the kWh on your next winter bill with those for October lets you check that the dryer explains part of the increase, along with electric heating and lighting.