The best energy-efficient washing machines for your home

Washing machines are one of the most useful and practical home appliances – but they are also unfortunately notorious for using large amounts of energy.

There are however ways to ensure your washing machine is more energy-efficient, thanks to the ratings on each appliance which uses an A-D scoring system: A is the most efficient, G is the least.  Typically these ratings are based on washing a load of clothes at 60°C, and on average, a D-rated machine on a 9kg load will cost approximately 21.2p per cycle, while an A-rated one can set you back 13.72p per cycle.

To help you choose your next washing machine investment wisely, we've handpicked our top-rated appliances.

Of the 12 in our roundup, each one has an A energy rating so you can be sure that they're the most energy-efficient options to can save money, while still fitting an entire load of laundry and spanning a range of budgets.

This washing machine from Miele has an 8kg capacity with a maximum spin speed of 1,400rpm. Made for medium to large households, it intelligently adjusts to the size of your load and will use less water and consume less electricity. The machine was designed especially for blind and partially sighted people, with tactile markings and audio cues to help users operate it with touch and sound.

John Lewis' own brand washing machine has a mid-range price tag but comes with an A energy rating. For an extra £25 you can also include washer installation in your order. With an average 4.9 stars, one shopper wrote in their review: "Even though we are small household, we opted for this larger capacity washing machine so that we could reduce the number of washes we do every week."

While the 9kg capacity, spin speed of 1,400rpm and freestanding design are impressive, our favourite feature of this machine is that you can add a forgotten sock to a wash mid-cycle – how handy is that? Additionally, it remembers your most-used cycle settings, will notify you on the SmartThings app when a load is finished and its built-in Digital Inverter Technology is powerful but quiet.