What the Midea MLHE52S6BGG costs to run
ENERGY STAR certifies the Midea MLHE52S6BGG at 608 kWh/yr, about average for its category to run for its category.
That $114 is priced at 18.8¢/kWh, the average of all 51 state rates this site tracks. Your own state's rate is one click away.
Efficient, or not, for a clothes dryer
The category average is 572 kWh/yr; this model runs 6.3% above it, ranking 322 of 639 clothes dryers tracked here for running cost. That average is drawn from all 639 clothes dryers ENERGY STAR currently certifies, not an outside number, a $7/year gap from this model at the national rate. Full sourcing is in the sourcing notes.
Right next to it on the list
A rank or two either side of the Midea MLHE52S6BGG: Midea MLHE31S2BWW ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr), then Midea MLHE52S7AGG ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr).
Same brand, different models
Ranked 11 of Midea's 35 certified clothes dryers, this sits between the MLE27N5AWWC ($44/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the MLTG54S7ACG ($129/yr, its priciest).
Midea MLHE52S6BGG over 12 years
Over the 12-year service life NAHB reports for this category, running the Midea MLHE52S6BGG costs roughly $1,372 in electricity, separate from the purchase price.
Is it worth replacing?
Efficient as certified clothes dryers go, $114/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
Compare current ENERGY STAR certified clothes dryers before buying.
If you're keeping it
The Midea MLHE52S6BGG already costs $114/year to run; a repair bill on top of that is the kind of expense a protection plan exists to smooth out.
Where this number comes from
Two sourced numbers, nothing modeled: ENERGY STAR's certified kWh/yr for this exact model, and EIA's published state electricity rate. Ranked 322 of 639 certified dryers for running cost, the Midea MLHE52S6BGG 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.