The Arete Two 12L is cheaper to run than the Arete One 12L in every room condition Meaco publishes. In a heated room at 20°C and 60% humidity it removes a litre of water for 15.9p at the October 2026 price cap. The Arete One needs 18.2p for the same litre. The Arete Two costs £20 more on Amazon UK, and it earns that back after about 860 litres of water.
Both sets of figures come from Meaco’s own performance tables. Each one gives the watts the machine draws and the litres it removes at six mixes of temperature and humidity. We read both pages on 28 September 2026 and priced them at 26.32p per kWh, the Ofgem cap rate for electricity from 1 October to 31 December 2026. Prices are Amazon UK’s on the same day.
The verdict, 28 September 2026
- At 20°C and 60% humidity the Arete Two draws 136W and removes 5.40 litres a day, which is 15.9p a litre. The Arete One draws 151W and removes 5.23 litres, which is 18.2p.
- The gap widens in a cold room. At 10°C and 60% humidity a litre costs 35.6p in the Arete Two and 42.1p in the Arete One.
- The Arete Two is £199.99 and the Arete One £179.99. We call the amount of use it takes to earn back a price gap the pence-back point. Here it is 859 litres in a heated room and 307 litres in a cold one.
- An eight-hour night in a heated room costs 28.6p on the Arete Two and 31.8p on the Arete One, at most.
- Both have a 2.5-litre tank and a five-year warranty.
| Room | Arete One 12L | Per litre | Arete Two 12L | Per litre | Two saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10°C, 60% | 130W, 1.95 L/day | 42.1p | 111W, 1.97 L/day | 35.6p | 6.5p |
| 10°C, 80% | 131W, 3.77 L/day | 22.0p | 114W, 3.65 L/day | 19.7p | 2.2p |
| 20°C, 60% | 151W, 5.23 L/day | 18.2p | 136W, 5.40 L/day | 15.9p | 2.3p |
| 20°C, 80% | 157W, 8.33 L/day | 11.9p | 142W, 8.51 L/day | 10.5p | 1.4p |
| 30°C, 60% | 186W, 8.21 L/day | 14.3p | 117W, 8.19 L/day | 9.0p | 5.3p |
| 30°C, 80% | 198W, 12.18 L/day | 10.3p | 182W, 11.99 L/day | 9.6p | 0.7p |
The pence-back point
In a 20°C room the Arete Two saves 2.33p on every litre it removes. The price gap is £20, so it needs 859 litres to pay for itself. At 5.40 litres a day that is 159 days of running around the clock.
Most homes will not run a dehumidifier around the clock, so count the water you actually give it. A 3kg load of washing still holds about 1.74 litres after a normal spin. Dry five loads a week indoors and that is 8.7 litres a week from laundry alone. At that rate the £20 comes back in about two years in a heated room.
A cold room changes the answer. At 10°C and 60% humidity the saving is 6.5p a litre, so the pence-back point drops to 307 litres, or about 35 weeks of the same laundry. If the machine is going in a cool bedroom or a spare room with the radiator off, the Arete Two pays its way in a single winter.
| Room | Saving per litre | Pence-back point | Weeks at 8.7 litres a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10°C, 60% | 6.5p | 307 litres | 35 |
| 20°C, 60% | 2.3p | 859 litres | 99 |
| 20°C, 80% | 1.4p | 1,465 litres | 168 |
One figure in Meaco’s table looks odd
Meaco lists the Arete Two drawing 117W at 30°C and 60% humidity. That is less than the 136W it gives for the cooler 20°C room, and it is why the hot-room gap in our table, 9.0p against 14.3p, is the widest of the six. Every other row behaves the way a compressor normally does, drawing more power as the air gets warmer. We have used the figure as Meaco publishes it. Nobody buying a dehumidifier for a British winter will spend much time at 30°C, so it does not change the verdict.
Other sizes: where the Arete Two makes sense
Meaco publishes the same kind of table for the 10-litre and 20-litre versions of both machines. The 12L is where the upgrade pays back fastest. At 20 litres the Arete Two saves so little per litre that its £40 premium takes about 6,000 litres to earn back.
| Size | Arete One per litre | Arete Two per litre | Two saves | Price gap | Pence-back point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10L | 22.0p (151W, 4.34 L/day) | 20.5p (136W, 4.19 L/day) | 1.5p | £20.00 | 1,356 litres |
| 12L | 18.2p (151W, 5.23 L/day) | 15.9p (136W, 5.40 L/day) | 2.3p | £20.00 | 859 litres |
| 20L | 16.1p (216W, 8.5 L/day) | 15.4p (207W, 8.50 L/day) | 0.7p | £40.00 | 5,981 litres |
The 20L pair has its own page: Meaco Arete One vs Arete Two 20L.
What else the extra £20 buys
Meaco’s product page lists what the Arete Two adds. It has an LCD display and works with Meaco’s app and with Google and Alexa voice commands. Meaco says its DC fan motor has 60% more power, and there is an extra fan speed that reaches 140 m³ of air an hour. It also adds a manual louvre and timers for laundry mode. A light shows when the room is very humid.
The extra fan speed is also the loudest setting. Meaco gives 35 and 38 dB(A) for the Arete One and 35, 38 and 44 dB(A) for the Arete Two. On the two speeds they share, Meaco’s figures are the same.
Which one to buy
Buy the Arete Two if it will run most days through the winter, and above all if the room it lives in is cool. It is cheaper per litre everywhere, and in a cold room the £20 is back within a season.
Buy the Arete One if you want it for condensation in a warm flat, a few hours at a time. It does the same job for £20 less. With light use you may never reach the pence-back point, and the warranty is the same five years.
How we worked it out
| Item | What we did |
|---|---|
| Electricity rate | 26.32p per kWh, the Ofgem cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026, direct debit, Great Britain average. Your region will differ a little. The 54.83p a day standing charge is left out because you pay it whether the machine runs or not. |
| Power and water removed | Watts and litres a day at each temperature and humidity, taken from the performance table on each maker’s own product page. We did not use the Amazon listing figures, which on this category often repeat the litres-per-day number as the tank size. |
| Cost per litre | Watts × 24 hours ÷ 1,000 × 26.32p, divided by the litres removed in those 24 hours. |
| Cost per night | Watts × 8 hours ÷ 1,000 × 26.32p. A machine with a humidistat stops its compressor once the room reaches the target, so treat this as a ceiling. |
| Prices | Amazon UK, read 28 September 2026. They move often. |
| The pence-back point | The price gap divided by the saving per litre. For these two machines: £20.00 ÷ 2.33p = 859 litres at 20°C and 60% humidity. |
What this comparison could not check
- We have not run either machine on a meter. Every wattage and extraction figure is Meaco’s own, and we cannot confirm they are accurate.
- How long a real room stays at any one of the six conditions. Your costs will sit somewhere between the rows.
- Noise in a real room. The decibel figures are Meaco’s.
- How either machine holds up over years of use.
The two machines
MeacoDry Arete Two 12L
£199.99. 15.9p per litre removed in a 20°C room and 35.6p in a 10°C one, from Meaco’s table at the October 2026 cap. It adds app and voice control, and the warranty is five years.
The catch: £20 more than the Arete One, and at light use in a warm room it takes about two years of laundry drying to earn that back.
See it on AmazonMeacoDry Arete One 12L
£179.99. 18.2p per litre removed in a 20°C room. The tank and warranty match the Arete Two, and it doubles as a HEPA air purifier.
The catch: Dearer per litre in every condition Meaco publishes, and 42.1p a litre in a 10°C room.
See it on AmazonLook Into earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through the Amazon links above, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the arithmetic.
Common questions
Is the Meaco Arete Two cheaper to run than the Arete One?
Yes, in all six room conditions Meaco publishes. In a 20°C room at 60% humidity it removes a litre of water for 15.9p against 18.2p for the Arete One 12L, at the October 2026 cap of 26.32p per kWh.
Is the Arete Two worth the extra £20?
If you run it often or in a cool room, yes. It earns back the £20 after 859 litres of water in a 20°C room and 307 litres at 10°C. For occasional use in a warm flat, the Arete One does the same job for less.
What is the difference between the Meaco Arete One and Arete Two?
The Arete Two adds an LCD display, app and voice control, a DC fan motor, an extra fan speed of 140 cubic metres an hour and laundry-mode timers. It draws less power for slightly more water removed. Size, weight, tank and the five-year warranty are the same.
How much does the Arete Two 12L cost to run per night?
At most 28.6p for eight hours in a 20°C room at the October 2026 cap, on Meaco’s figure of 136W. The Arete One 12L is 31.8p. Both stop the compressor when the room reaches the humidity you set, so most nights cost less.
Compare more
- All our running-cost head-to-heads
- Meaco Arete One vs Arete Two 20L: 0.7p a litre apart, and the Two costs £110 more on Amazon than direct
- Meaco Arete One 12L vs MeacoDry ABC 10L: same night, different cost per litre
- Meaco vs Pro Breeze 12L dehumidifier: one publishes its wattage, one does not
- Ninja Dual Zone AF300UK vs Philips 3000 Dual Basket: 3p a cook against a £28 price gap
- Ninja AF300UK vs Tefal Easy Fry Dual Zone: nine years of cooking to earn back £62
- Ninja AF300UK vs AF400UK: the bigger one costs more per cook and less per litre of drawer
- Electric blanket vs heater: 1.8p an hour against 17.1p and up
- Electric blanket vs hot water bottle: half an hour of blanket costs less than one kettle fill
- Oil filled radiator vs fan heater: watt for watt, exactly the same bill
- Best dehumidifiers UK, ranked by what a night costs
- The cheapest way to dry clothes, per 3kg load
Sources
- Ofgem, energy price cap unit rates and standing charges (1 October to 31 December 2026)
- Meaco, MeacoDry Arete One 12L product page and performance table
- Meaco, MeacoDry Arete Two 12L product page and performance table
- Amazon UK listings for the Arete One 12L (B09TBKCCSS) and Arete Two 12L (B0CTKPZ5FJ), prices read 28 September 2026