What the VIKING FDWU524 costs to run
The VIKING FDWU524 is certified by ENERGY STAR at 225 kWh a year, about average for its category to run among dishwashers currently certified.
That $42 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 dishwasher
Against the category average of 232 kWh/yr, this model uses 3% less, ranking 127 of 737 dishwashers tracked here for running cost. That average is drawn from all 737 dishwashers ENERGY STAR currently certifies, not an outside number, a $1/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 VIKING FDWU524: Samsung DW90H89TE** ($42/yr, 225 kWh/yr), then VIKING VDWU324SS ($42/yr, 225 kWh/yr).
Within the VIKING lineup
Of the 4 ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers VIKING makes, the FDWU524 is the cheapest to run, $3/year less than VIKING's priciest, the VDWU524WSSS.
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 VIKING FDWU524 that long and it costs about $381 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Weighing a replacement
Efficient as certified dishwashers go, $42/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
See what else is certified in this category before you decide.
If you're keeping it
A dishwasher like the VIKING FDWU524 is a real household expense whether or not it needs replacing yet; a protection plan is one way to budget for a repair rather than a full replacement.
Where this number comes from
The full Dishwasher category page shows all 737 dishwashers ranked by cost; the state-rate guide covers the half of this number that isn't the appliance. The 225 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.