Where this list comes from
The government’s own energyrating.gov.au registration database lists every clothes washer model registered for sale in Australia under the mandatory energy-label scheme, each tested the same way, on the same standard. 9kg front loaders are the third-largest capacity class in it, 206 of the 1,002 registered front loaders, behind 10kg’s 262 and 8kg’s 289. That is comfortably enough to hold a steady median, the same bar our dishwasher, dryer and fridge league tables are each held to.
Why the combination washer-dryers are not in this table
45 of those 206 machines, about 22 in every 100, are combination washer-dryers, and the register marks them as such. It also tests them with the drying switched off, which their registered test program states in as many words. A combination machine’s kWh figure is therefore a wash figure. It is fair against a plain washing machine for the washing and says nothing about the drying the machine was also bought to do. Ranking one under a heading that promises washing machines would put a half-measured number in a list of whole ones, so this site leaves them out of every league and keeps them in every calculator.
On this class the exclusion changes the table without changing who wins it. Three combination machines would otherwise sit in this top ten, the best of them at 0.52 kWh a load, which is under second place and still above the 0.44 kWh the SIEMENS WG44H2A1AU tests at. Rank the whole registered class with the washer-dryers in and the same machine is still first, with three of the rows below it replaced. The drying half of that decision gets priced by our dryer cost per load calculator.
That is the whole subtraction: 206 registered, less 45 combination machines, with none left unmarked, leaves the 161 plain 9kg front-loading washing machines the table ranks. One row per genuinely distinct model, since a handful of colour-code variants of one design are shown once rather than repeated.
What it actually costs
The 10 cheapest-to-run 9kg front loaders currently in the government's registry, at 5 loads a week on New South Wales's reference rate.
| Rank and model | kWh per load | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1. SIEMENS WG44H2A1AU | 0.44 kWh/load | $37.17/year |
| 2. FISHER & PAYKEL WH9060D Series | 0.55 kWh/load | $46.46/year |
| 3. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS WW90BB944DGB | 0.56 kWh/load | $47.30/year |
| 4. BOSCH WAN28227AU | 0.57 kWh/load | $48.15/year |
| 4. HISENSE HWGA9014 | 0.57 kWh/load | $48.15/year |
| 5. AEG LF8594O8 | 0.58 kWh/load | $48.99/year |
| 5. BEKO BFLB9010W | 0.58 kWh/load | $48.99/year |
| 5. BOSCH F44-CA10 | 0.58 kWh/load | $48.99/year |
| 5. LG WX10-1409W | 0.58 kWh/load | $48.99/year |
| 6. BOSCH F44 | 0.59 kWh/load | $49.84/year |
Ranked by the registry's own kWh-per-load test figure, cheapest first. Models that tie on that figure take one rank between them rather than a numbered slot each, which is why ten rows run from rank 1 to rank 6. Combination washer-dryers are left out, for the reason above. Same-design colour-code variants of one model are shown once. Running cost only: purchase price isn't priced here.
Winning this table is worth less than staying out of the bottom of the class
The ten rows span $37.17 to $49.84 a year, so choosing between rows inside this table is worth about $12.67 a year at most. The money is in the rows the table does not show: the median 9kg front loader costs $60.82 a year, and the Robinhood RHWM9W costs $92.91, 2.5 times the top of this table. Staying out of the bottom of the class is worth roughly $43.08 a year more than winning the top of it.
Eight brands across ten rows, and one of them holds three of them
The badge on the machine does some work here, more than it does one class up. The ten rows carry eight manufacturers and one of them holds three of the rows, where the 10kg ranking spreads its ten across seven names with no brand holding more than two. Neither is anywhere near the dishwasher ranking, where one premium brand takes six of the ten. Our brand-concentration guide works through why those lists look so different.
The step up from 8kg to 9kg costs more, and the step to 10kg gives it back
Plain machines only on all three sides, taken the same way from the same file: the median 8kg front loader tests at 0.67 kWh a load, the median 9kg one at 0.72, and the median 10kg one at 0.66. The middle size is the dearest of the three. Buying a bigger drum than an 8kg one does not start paying for itself until 10kg, and in between it costs about $4.22 a year more than the smaller class it replaced.
Per kilogram of drum the ladder still runs the right way. A 9kg machine holds 0.080 kWh of running cost for every kilogram it can wash, against 0.084 for an 8kg one and 0.066 for a 10kg one. So a 9kg drum is better value per kilogram than an 8kg one and worse value than a 10kg one, which is the same thing our bigger-machine guide found across every registered size: a bigger machine pays only if the household actually fills it.
47 in every 100 of the class beat both neighbouring medians anyway
75 of the 161 plain 9kg front loaders on the register, about 47 in every 100, test below the 8kg median and the 10kg median both. Every row in the table above is one of them, so the class median says more about the market than about any machine you would actually shortlist. The gap between the classes is worth $4.22 a year and the gap between the best and worst 9kg machine is worth $55.75, so which machine you pick inside the class matters several times more than which class you pick.
And the downside is smaller here than either side of it. The worst plain 9kg front loader on the register tests at 1.10 kWh a load, where the worst 8kg one reaches 1.62 and the worst 10kg one reaches 2.22. Choosing badly in this class costs about $94.60 a year less than choosing badly one size up.
Cheapest vs worst in class, state by state
Same ranking everywhere, different money. This is the rank-1 model above against the least efficient 9kg front loader in the same registered class, both at 5 loads a week on each state’s own reference rate.
| State | Rate | Cheapest | Worst in class |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 32.4¢ | $37.17 | $92.91 |
| Victoria | 29.8¢ | $34.18 | $85.46 |
| Queensland | 31.2¢ | $35.79 | $89.47 |
| South Australia | 38.1¢ | $43.70 | $109.26 |
| Western Australia | 33.6¢ | $38.54 | $96.35 |
| Tasmania | 28.9¢ | $33.15 | $82.88 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 27.4¢ | $31.43 | $78.57 |
| Northern Territory | 31.7¢ | $36.36 | $90.91 |
Your state is highlighted if you have set one. Rates are the regulated reference tariffs listed in Sources below, current for 2026–27.
Common questions
Is a 9kg washing machine cheaper to run than an 8kg one?
It depends which machine in each class you mean, and the two answers point opposite ways. Class against class the 8kg one wins, as the section above sets out. Machine against machine the classes overlap heavily: 82 of the 217 plain 8kg front loaders on the register, about 38 in every 100, cost more to run than the median 9kg one. The single best machine in either class is 8kg though, at 0.41 kWh a load against this class’s 0.44. Our bigger-machine guide puts the same question to every registered size at once.
Which 9kg washing machine is cheapest to run?
The SIEMENS WG44H2A1AU, and it is out on its own in a way the rest of the table is not: it is the only one of the 161 plain 9kg front loaders on the register that tests under 0.50 kWh a load. The nine machines behind it in the table are separated by 0.04 kWh in total, less than the gap between first and second on its own. Running cost is one input to a buying decision: check the purchase price and whether the machine fits the space before deciding.
How do I tell a 9kg washer-dryer from a 9kg washing machine in a shop?
Check the drying capacity, because the size on the front will not tell you. About 22 in every 100 registered 9kg front loaders are combination machines, so roughly one in five of anything a retailer files under 9kg front loaders both washes and dries. A washer-dryer is rated twice, a wash capacity and a smaller dry capacity, and the energy label figure it carries is measured with the drying switched off. That is why this table leaves them out, and why comparing one against a plain machine on the label alone flatters it. Our dryer-type guide covers what the drying half costs, where the technology inside the drum swings the bill several times further than any wash cycle does.
What about a 9kg top loader?
Different class, different list. The register lists 46 top loaders at this capacity, and the regulator's own test does not rank a top loader against a front loader, so mixing them would repeat the trap our star-rating guide warns about. Our front load vs top load guide compares the two types on their own terms.
Does it matter which state I am in?
Not for the order, which comes from a lab test and cannot move with a tariff. It matters for how much the choice is worth. Picking the top of this class over the bottom of it saves $47.14 a year on the Australian Capital Territory’s regulated rate and $65.56 on South Australia’s, about 39% more for the same decision. The state-by-state table above prices it for all eight, and setting your location in the header moves every dollar figure on this page at once.
Sources
Per-model kWh-per-load, rated capacity, loader type and combination-machine status for the 9kg comparison, and the 8kg and 10kg medians it is set against: the energyrating.gov.au registration database (July 2026 snapshot) our washing machine calculator’s own model finder already serves, filtered to the 206 currently registered 9kg front loaders and then to the 161 of those the register does not mark as combination washer-dryers. Electricity rates, one regulated reference tariff per state, current for 2026–27: the AER Default Market Offer for NSW, south-east QLD and SA, the Victorian Default Offer for VIC, and the WA, Tasmanian, ACT and NT regulated standing offers for the rest. The page is served on New South Wales’ rate and switches to yours when you set a location. This guide is general information, not a recommendation to buy any specific model; check current retail availability and price before deciding. All fetched July 2026.