Heating the pool adds $677 a season on grid power.
An inverter pool heat pump is efficient, but water takes serious energy to warm. The trick is treating the pool itself as a daytime solar battery.
14kW of heat on the brochure, 2.8kW at the switchboard
Pool heaters are sold by their thermal output — typically 12kW to 17kW for a family pool. Just like a reverse-cycle air conditioner, that number is the heat delivered to the water, not the electricity pulled from your meter.
A 14kW inverter pool heat pump draws about 2.8kW when bringing the pool up to temperature and modulates down to around 2.0kW once it is holding temperature. Across 6 hours a day for a 180-day swimming season, that works out to 11.8 kWh a day — roughly $3.76 a day or $677 per season before you count the filtration pump that has to run alongside it.
11.8 kWh/day while heating on grid tariff (32 c/kWh).
180 days of heating + 1.1kW pump ($1,098/yr with variable-speed pump).
Foregone 5 c/kWh feed-in credit when run strictly in daylight.
Why a heated pool is the best daytime thermal battery you own
Two things peak between 10am and 3pm: your rooftop solar output and the outside air temperature. Because an air-source pool heat pump extracts warmth from the air, its efficiency is highest in the middle of the day — the exact hours when exporting surplus solar to the grid only earns 5 c/kWh.
With a filtration pump and heat pump drawing around 2.5kW to 3.9kW together for six hours, a heated pool will consume most of a 6.6kW system's midday generation on its own. If you also run ducted air conditioning or want enough surplus left over to charge a home battery before sunset, a 10kW solar system or larger is almost always the right fit.
Model your pool heater hours
Delivers ~14kW thermal pool heating to extend swimming seasons (~11.8 kWh/day).
Briefly draws several times that on start-up, for a second or two.
This one only runs for part of the year, which is why an hourly figure on its own tells you very little.
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.
Only applies to the hours it runs while the sun is up. After dark you are buying from the grid again — or from a battery.
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 heat pump cost to run in Australia?
An inverter pool heat pump delivering around 14kW of thermal heating draws about 2.8kW of electricity at full output, modulating to roughly 1.96kW (70% load factor) once the water is at target temperature. Over a six-hour daily run across a 180-day swimming season, that is about 11.8 kWh a day — roughly $3.76 a day or $677 per season at 32 c/kWh.
Why is a 14kW pool heat pump rated at only 2.8kW of electricity?
For the same reason a 5kW split-system air conditioner draws only 1.32kW: a heat pump moves heat from the outside air into the water rather than creating heat with a resistive element. With a Coefficient of Performance (COP) around 5 in warm ambient air, each kilowatt of electricity transfers roughly five kilowatts of heat into the pool.
Can I run a pool heat pump entirely on solar panels?
Yes, and a swimming pool is one of the best thermal batteries a home can have. Water holds heat so well that running the heat pump strictly between 9:30am and 3:30pm — when solar generation peaks and ambient air is warmest — heats the pool for afternoon and weekend swimming with minimal overnight temperature drop, especially if you use a pool cover.
What size solar system do I need for a pool pump plus a pool heat pump?
Running a filtration pump (0.45kW–1.1kW) alongside a pool heat pump (~2.0kW–2.8kW) creates a combined daytime pool load of 2.5kW to 3.9kW before anyone turns on the air conditioner or kitchen appliances inside the house. That is why households with a heated pool almost always step up from a 6.6kW system to a 10kW or 13.2kW solar array.
How much difference does a pool cover make to running costs?
More than any setting on the heater. Up to 70% of heat loss from an outdoor pool is evaporation from the surface. Leaving a heated pool uncovered overnight forces the heat pump to run at 100% output for hours the next morning just to replace what evaporated.
Get your free solar quote in under 2 minutes.
Tell us a little about your place and we’ll tailor the numbers. Everything in the list below is included, no exceptions.