What the Summit LDW18SSA costs to run
ENERGY STAR certifies the Summit LDW18SSA at 234 kWh/yr, about average for its category to run for its category.
The $44 figure above uses the simple average of all 51 published state rates. Pick your state for the real number.
Summit LDW18SSA against the category
That's 0.9% above the dishwasher category average of 232 kWh/yr, and ranks 280 of 737 certified dishwashers for annual running cost, 1 being cheapest. The category average comes from every dishwasher ENERGY STAR currently certifies (737 models), not an outside benchmark, about $0/year above that average at the national rate. See the methodology page.
What sits beside it in the ranking
Summit LDW18WA ($44/yr, 234 kWh/yr) costs a little more to run than the Summit LDW18SSA. Summit LDW18NTA ($44/yr, 234 kWh/yr) costs a little less.
Same brand, different models
Summit makes 33 ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers; this one ranks 28 of 33 for running cost, between the brand's cheapest, the DW18SS4 at $41/yr, and its priciest, the LDW24WA at $44/yr.
What this adds up to over time
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical dishwasher's service life at 9 years; run the Summit LDW18SSA that long and it costs about $396 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Weighing a replacement
The Summit LDW18SSA is already efficient for its category at $44/year. If you're shopping and comparing options, this is roughly what a well-chosen new dishwasher costs to run.
Compare current ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers before buying.
Protecting what you have
Whether or not the Summit LDW18SSA ever needs replacing, a repair is the more common failure for a dishwasher, one a protection plan budgets for ahead of time.
Sourcing
At rank 280 of 737 for running cost, see the dishwasher category page for the rest of the field, or the guide to how much your state matters. The 234 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.