What does a robot vacuum cost to run?

Run the numbers on your own use

Change any of these and the figures update. The defaults are the typical case described above; your rate is the input that moves the answer most.

Why this is lower than the number you will see elsewhere

Almost every published answer to this question multiplies the rating on the label by the hours the appliance is switched on. For a robot vacuum that gives 14 kWh a year, or $2.64.

Cleaning draw. The dock then trickles and idles the rest of the day.

The arithmetic, step by step

Nothing here is hidden, so you can check it or change it. Working in the order the formula runs:

1. 40 W — what it draws while it is actually drawing. This is the rating on the plate.
2. × 100% — the share of its in-service time it is really pulling that. Cleaning draw. The dock then trickles and idles the rest of the day.
   That gives 40 W averaged across the hours it is on.
3. × 1.2 hours a day × 300 days — A daily run plus dock standby, self-emptying base included.
   40 × 1.2 × 300 ÷ 1,000 = 14 kWh a year.
4. + standby — 3 W for the other 22.8 hours a day, which is 21 kWh a year. People leave this out and it is not always small.
5. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
   35 kWh × 18.34¢ = $6.40 a year.

Change any assumption in the calculator above and every figure on this page moves with it. The two that matter most are your rate, which varies 4× across the country, and the hours — the duty cycle is a property of the appliance, but the hours are a property of you.

How sensitive is that number?

A single figure invites more confidence than it deserves. Here is the same appliance under assumptions either side of the default, so you can see how much of the answer is the appliance and how much is the guess about how you use it.

Everything else held at the default. The spread here is the honest error bar on the headline figure.

What it costs per hour, day and month

At 18.34¢ per kWh, the US residential average for June 2026.

The thing worth knowing

The dock costs more per year than the cleaning does. A self-emptying base holding itself ready around the clock is a continuous small load, which is exactly the shape that hides in a bill.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this robot vacuum costs $18 a year in Hawaii and $4.58 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one robot vacuum for a year, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

Other tools, hobbies and outdoors costs

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• Pottery kiln

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• Electric fireplace

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• Home server or NAS

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• Radon mitigation fan

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Questions

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.

How every figure on this page is computed · Where the data comes from