Are Electric Blankets Expensive to Run? Pennies in MD, VA, DC

No. An electric blanket is one of the cheapest ways to stay warm at night. Using the latest government electricity prices for our area, a blanket rated at 100 watts, left on high for a full eight-hour night, costs about 14 cents in Virginia, 17 cents in Maryland and 20 cents in DC. Run it every night for a month and you are looking at roughly $4 to $6. A 1,500-watt space heater running for the same eight hours costs fifteen times as much.

An electric blanket warms you, not the room. That is why it costs pennies a night, not dollars.

The catch is not the bill. It is the blanket itself: two 2026 federal safety actions cover heated blankets sold online, and one of them covers about 195,000 units. Below is the math for your state, how to work out your own blanket's cost in a minute, and what to check before you plug in a used or bargain one.

How much does an electric blanket cost per night in DC, Maryland and Virginia?

Power prices here are not the national average. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly table, released on September 24, 2026, puts the average home electricity price in July 2026 at 25.21 cents per kilowatt-hour in DC, 21.41 cents in Maryland and 17.55 cents in Virginia, against 18.31 cents for the whole country. Those are preliminary figures for one summer month, and your own rate depends on your utility and plan, but they are the most recent official numbers.

Here is what that means for one eight-hour night at full power. The wattage is printed on the blanket's label or controller; we show three label sizes as examples.

Over a 30-night month, a 100-watt blanket on high comes to about $6.05 in DC, $5.14 in Maryland and $4.21 in Virginia. A 150-watt one comes to about $9.08, $7.71 and $6.32.

These are top-end numbers. The label wattage is the most the blanket can draw, and on lower settings the controller switches the heat on and off, so a typical night usually costs less than the table shows.

Why did running costs go up this year?

Because electricity went up, and faster here than in most of the country. Comparing July 2026 with July 2025 in the same EIA table, the average home price rose about 14% in Maryland (from 18.83 to 21.41 cents), about 11% in Virginia (15.78 to 17.55 cents) and about 9% in DC (23.04 to 25.21 cents). The national average rose about 5%.

That cuts both ways. Every appliance costs more to run, which makes a low-wattage blanket an even better trade against heating a whole room or turning the thermostat up. If you want the bigger picture on this winter's heating bills, we covered the federal outlook in Winter 2026-27 Heating Bills: Who Pays More, Who Pays Less.

How do I work out what my own blanket costs?

You need two numbers: the wattage on the blanket's label and the price per kilowatt-hour on your electric bill. Then:

1. Find the watts. Look at the label sewn into the blanket, the back of the controller, or the box. Dual-control queen and king blankets sometimes list each side.
2. Multiply by hours. Watts times hours used gives watt-hours. 100 watts for 8 hours is 800 watt-hours.
3. Divide by 1,000. That gives kilowatt-hours: 0.8 kWh.
4. Multiply by your rate. Your bill shows the price per kWh, or divide the total charge by the kWh used. At 21 cents, 0.8 kWh is about 17 cents.
5. Be honest about hours. Many people warm the bed for half an hour and switch it off, or use the auto-off timer. Half an hour at 100 watts is about one cent.

The same five steps work for any appliance, which is handy when you are pricing a used heater or dehumidifier against its running cost. Our space heater safety guide covers the heater side.

Are electric blankets safe? Check these two 2026 actions first

The cost is small. The thing worth your time is the model number.

On September 17, 2026, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of about 195,000 JKMAX heated blankets and heating pads, sold on Amazon from September 2022 through July 2026. The CPSC says the internal heating wires can overheat, and the company has 577 reports of blankets smoking, melting or burning, including 53 burn injuries. The model numbers to look for are JKMAX-002, JKMAX-7284B, JKMAX-6284B, JKMAX-10090B and JKMAX-8490B, printed on the back of the white remote and on the packaging label. The remedy is a full refund; contact details are on the recall notice listed in our sources.

On July 16, 2026, the CPSC warned people to stop using Melinora gray fleece heated blankets with a white 10-setting remote, sold on Amazon from February through October 2025. It knows of five reports of the blankets smoking, melting or burning, including one burn injury, and says the maker has not responded to its requests for a recall. Its advice is to stop using them, throw them away, and not sell or give them to anyone.

If you got a heated blanket as a gift, from a neighbor or at a yard sale, check the brand and model against cpsc.gov/Recalls before the first cold night. Our guide on how to check if a product is recalled walks through the search.

Is a used or bargain electric blanket worth it?

It can be, if it passes a quick look. A blanket is wires inside fabric, so you are checking for heat damage and a sound controller.

1. Brand and model match no recall or warning. No model number at all is a reason to pass.
2. A testing-lab mark on the label. Look for a mark from a recognized safety lab. No mark, no deal.
3. No scorch marks. Hold it up to a light. Brown spots, stiff patches or a melted smell mean the wiring has overheated.
4. Cord and plug are whole. No cracks, tape, kinks or bent prongs. Check where the cord meets the controller.
5. The controller works and the auto-off is there. Try every setting. An auto shut-off timer is the feature you most want on a blanket you might fall asleep under.
6. The instructions are available. Washing and drying rules differ by model, and getting them wrong can damage the wiring. If the paper manual is gone, search the model number on the maker's site.
7. One heated product per bed. Do not stack a heated mattress pad and a heated blanket.

When you shop, our Buy Now items show their condition and price up front, and you can browse home goods by category. For pickup, payment and returns, see the FAQ.

The bottom line

At 2026 prices, an electric blanket costs roughly 8 to 30 cents a night in DC, Maryland and Virginia, depending on its wattage and your state, and often far less if you just warm the bed and switch it off. That is a fraction of what a space heater costs for the same hours. Spend your effort on the model number instead: check it against the two 2026 CPSC actions, look it over for heat damage, and make sure it shuts itself off.

Know someone who keeps the thermostat cranked all winter? Send them this before the cold sets in.