What the Midea MLE52N5AWW costs to run
At 608 kWh/yr, the Midea MLE52N5AWW's ENERGY STAR certification puts it about average for its category to run against every other certified clothes dryer.
The $114 figure above uses the simple average of all 51 published state rates. Pick your state for the real number.
Midea MLE52N5AWW against the category
That's 6.3% above the clothes dryer category average of 572 kWh/yr, and ranks 316 of 639 certified clothes dryers for annual running cost, 1 being cheapest. The category average comes from every clothes dryer ENERGY STAR currently certifies (639 models), not an outside benchmark, about $7/year above that average at the national rate. See the methodology page.
What sits beside it in the ranking
Midea MLE52N7AWW ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr) costs a little more to run than the Midea MLE52N5AWW. Midea MLE52N4AWW ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr) costs a little less.
Within the Midea lineup
Midea makes 35 ENERGY STAR certified clothes dryers; this one ranks 5 of 35 for running cost, between the brand's cheapest, the MLE27N5AWWC at $44/yr, and its priciest, the MLTG54S7ACG at $129/yr.
Midea MLE52N5AWW over 12 years
Over the 12-year service life NAHB reports for this category, running the Midea MLE52N5AWW costs roughly $1,372 in electricity, separate from the purchase price.
Is it worth replacing?
The Midea MLE52N5AWW is already efficient for its category at $114/year. If you're shopping and comparing options, this is roughly what a well-chosen new clothes dryer costs to run.
Worth comparing a few current certified models before deciding.
Protecting what you have
At $114/year just to run, a clothes dryer is worth protecting against an unplanned repair bill on top of that.
Sourcing
Ranked 316 of 639 certified dryers for running cost, the Midea MLE52N5AWW is also worth reading with a caveat specific to this category: the methodology page explains why ENERGY STAR's own combined-energy figure for dryers can overstate the electric bill impact of a gas model. The 608 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.