Meralco rates are near record levels, so guessing what an appliance costs is an expensive habit. Here is the arithmetic for a clothes iron at the current rate, with every assumption written down so you can change it.
A clothes iron draws about 1,000 W. At the current Meralco rate of ₱14.7833 per kWh that is ₱14.78 per hour. Used 1 hours a day it costs ₱14.78 daily and about ₱443.50 a month.
Calculate it for your own clothes iron
Change any box. The result updates as you type.
Planning estimate. The rate box is prefilled with a regional average; the figure on your own bill is the one that matters. Power is draw while running, not while switched on.
| Usage | kWh | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | 1.00 | ₱14.78 |
| Per day at 1 hours | 1.00 | ₱14.78 |
| Per 30-day month | 30.00 | ₱443.50 |
| Per year | 365.00 | ₱5,396 |
What drives the number
Ironing in bulk once a week costs far less than heating the iron up daily.Only three things decide the cost: the wattage, the hours, and the rate. Wattage is fixed by the unit you own and is printed on the nameplate. The rate is fixed by Meralco and changes monthly. Hours is the only one under your control, which is why the table below is the useful one.
Cost by hours used per day
| Hours/day | kWh/day | Per day | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.00 | ₱14.78 | ₱443.50 |
| 2 | 2.00 | ₱29.57 | ₱887.00 |
| 4 | 4.00 | ₱59.13 | ₱1,774 |
| 6 | 6.00 | ₱88.70 | ₱2,661 |
| 8 | 8.00 | ₱118.27 | ₱3,548 |
| 10 | 10.00 | ₱147.83 | ₱4,435 |
| 12 | 12.00 | ₱177.40 | ₱5,322 |
| 24 | 24.00 | ₱354.80 | ₱10,644 |
Laundry timing and the parts that actually cost money
Washing machines themselves are modest loads. What costs money in a Filipino household is heating: hot water if the machine uses it, and the iron afterwards. The wash motor is close to irrelevant next to either.
Line drying is standard here and it is free, which removes the single largest laundry cost that households in colder countries carry. The remaining lever is ironing.
How to spend less on it
- Iron in bulk once or twice a week rather than daily. Most of the energy goes into heating the iron up.
- Wash full loads. A half load uses nearly the same water and motor time.
- Use cold water unless the load genuinely needs hot.
Reading this against your actual Meralco bill
Your bill shows total kWh consumed and the amount charged. Divide the total by the kWh and you get your real effective rate, which will differ from the headline figure because of lifeline discounts, senior citizen discounts and the refunds Meralco is currently passing back.
Households consuming 100 kWh or less qualify automatically for the lifeline rate, which is substantially cheaper and applied without registration. If that is you, every figure on this page is an overestimate. Put your own effective rate into the calculator above and the numbers will correct themselves.
How the Meralco rate has moved this year
The same clothes iron cost noticeably less in January than it does now, with nobody changing how they use it. The generation charge is repriced every month against fuel costs, the peso-dollar rate and the wholesale spot market, so these figures move with it.
| Month | Rate per kWh | Bill at 200 kWh |
|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | ₱12.9508 | ₱2,590 |
| February 2026 | ₱13.1734 | ₱2,635 |
| March 2026 | ₱13.8161 | ₱2,763 |
| April 2026 | ₱14.3496 | ₱2,870 |
| May 2026 | ₱14.3345 | ₱2,867 |
| June 2026 | ₱14.4833 | ₱2,897 |
| July 2026 | ₱14.8261 | ₱2,965 |
| August 2026 | ₱14.7833 | ₱2,957 |
Compared with the alternatives
| Appliance | Watts | Per hour | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washing Machine | 400 W | ₱5.91 | ₱177.40 |
Running a clothes iron on solar
The Philippines averages roughly 4.8 peak sun hours a day, well above most of Europe or the northern United States. That, plus a grid rate near fifteen pesos, is why rooftop solar pays back faster here than international figures suggest, often in three to five years in Meralco territory.
| Panel size | Output per day | Panels needed |
|---|---|---|
| 400 W | 1.54 kWh | 1 |
| 450 W | 1.73 kWh | 1 |
| 550 W | 2.11 kWh | 1 |
| 600 W | 2.30 kWh | 1 |
Panels only produce in daylight. If the clothes iron runs at night, that energy has to come from a battery, and batteries remain the expensive part of a Philippine solar quote. Net metering credits exports at the generation charge rather than the full retail rate, so using your own production during the day is worth considerably more than selling it back. Financing options including the SSS Energy Sustainability Loan are worth reading before you commit.