Do front loader washing machines need more electricity?
That 1500W is the maximum motor power of a front-loading washing machine, relative to the maximum of a top-loading washing machine. Front-loading washing machines only use that much power when doing high-speed spinning, and that's only a small part of the cycle; generally they're just gently turning the wash over. More significantly, front-loaders use much less water, and specifically much less hot water, saving heating energy as well as clean water. 

Another reason for a high peak load may be that it's a cold-fill-only unit. These are designed to only draw cold water, using their own heating unit for when a warm or hot wash is desired. Of course, this uses energy, but in return saves the energy that would be used by your hot water heater. This may seem like a wash [sorry about that] but the hookup is simpler, which can be important in large buildings. More importantly, if the washer is a long way from the hot water supply then there may be more water in the pipe than the washer uses to fill itself. In that case, a hot-and-cold unit would try to fill itself with hot water, but just get the cold water from the pipe, leaving the new hot water slowly cooling in the pipe, ready to be cold for the next load. A cold-fill-only unit would just heat the water it needed, leaving you with the desired temperature wash and no wasted heat.

Finally, with that powerful motor the final spin is much faster, and so they extract much more water from the clothes before they go into the dryer, so the dryer will use far less energy (electricity or gas) to dry them.