Your pool pump is costing you $1,028 a year.
It is usually the second biggest load in a house with a pool — and the easiest one to make cheap, because you control exactly when it runs.
Where that number comes from
A standard single-speed pump draws about 1.10kW. Run it 8 hours a day and it uses 8.8 kWh — roughly $2.82 a day, every day, all year. Nothing about that is unusual or badly maintained. It is simply what a pump of that size does when it is left to run the way most of them are set up.
For context, that is around 18% of the electricity bill in a typical home with a pool — more than the fridge, the dishwasher, the television and all the standby loads in the house put together.
Why slower is so much cheaper than shorter
Most people try to save money by running the pump for fewer hours. That works, but it is the weaker of the two levers, and it trades away water quality to get there. The stronger lever is speed, because of how pumps behave:
Run at half speed and you move half the water per minute.
Head falls with the square of speed.
Energy draw falls with the cube of speed.
Put those together and the result is the whole argument for variable speed. At half speed the pump uses an eighth of the power but moves half the water, so it needs about twice as long to turn the pool over — which still leaves you using roughly a quarter of the energy for the same job. Turnover is the job. Hours at full speed is just the crude way of getting there.
1.10kW, 8 hours a day.
About 0.45kW in typical running — roughly $607 a year less.
Both at 32 c/kWh, a typical New South Wales residential rate — Victoria and the ACT are lower, and the calculator below takes your own. These are typical operating figures rather than the same pump at two speeds — a real variable-speed unit is a different motor, and the right speed for your pool depends on its volume, plumbing and filter.
The best load in the house to put on solar
Most of what a house uses is not yours to schedule. The kettle goes on when someone wants tea, the lights go on at dusk, the air conditioner runs when it is hot. The pool pump is different: it does not care what time it runs, which makes it the single best candidate for soaking up midday solar.
Move the whole run into the middle of the day and that $1,028 drops towards $161 — the export earnings you give up by using the power rather than selling it. It is not free, and anyone who tells you it is has skipped a step. But it is the cheapest change available to a pool owner with solar, and it costs nothing but setting a timer.
It also happens to be better for the water. Chlorine breaks down in sunlight, so circulating through the brightest part of the day keeps sanitiser moving exactly when the pool is under the most pressure.
Work out your own
Single-speed pool filtration pump (750–1,500W standard range).
Briefly draws several times that on start-up, for a second or two.
Most of these run all year. Drop it if you only use this one seasonally.
Most published running costs quote one national rate of about 33 c/kWh. Yours is on your bill, and it is the number that decides everything here.
This one can be moved into the middle of the day, which is where the saving comes from.
Estimate only. Running on solar is costed at your feed-in rate — the earnings you give up by using the power instead of exporting it, not zero. Appliance figures verified 2026-10-03; default rates 2026-06-22.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a pool pump cost to run?
A single-speed pump drawing 1.1kW for eight hours a day uses 8.8 kWh, which is about $2.82 a day or just over $1,000 a year at 32 c/kWh. That is commonly around 18% of the electricity bill in a house with a pool, and in many homes it is the second largest single load after heating and cooling.
Is a variable speed pool pump really worth it?
On running cost, yes, and the reason is physics rather than marketing. A pump's power draw rises with the cube of its speed, so running at half speed uses about an eighth of the power. Flow only halves, so you need roughly twice as long to turn the same water over — which still leaves you using about a quarter of the energy for the same job. A typical variable-speed pump costs around $420 a year to run against just over $1,000 for a single-speed one.
How long should I run my pool pump?
Long enough to turn the water over, which is the actual job — not a fixed number of hours. Most pools need roughly their whole volume circulated once a day, and how long that takes depends on your pump, your plumbing and your filter. Eight hours at full speed is a common default rather than a requirement. If your pump can run slower for longer and still achieve turnover, that is almost always the cheaper way to get there.
Should I run the pool pump during the day or overnight?
During the day, if you have solar. The pump is one of the few large loads whose timing is entirely yours to choose, which makes it the single best candidate for soaking up midday generation. Running it between about 10am and 3pm turns the most expensive item on a pool owner's bill into one of the cheapest. Without solar the calculation flips to whatever your tariff rewards, which may well be overnight.
Does running it at night damage the pool?
No, but it does change when chlorine is distributed, and in summer that matters. Sunlight degrades chlorine, so circulating during daylight helps keep sanitiser moving when the pool is under most pressure. Daytime running is good for the water and good for a solar owner's bill at the same time, which is a rare combination.
What size solar system covers a pool?
A single-speed pump running through the middle of the day needs about 1.1kW of generation while it runs — comfortably inside a 6.6kW system, which on a clear day produces several times that. The pump is rarely the thing that decides your system size. What decides it is everything running alongside the pump: air conditioning in summer, and whether an EV is coming.
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