Pools

Pool running cost calculator

Tell it about your pool and it will price every part of running it at your own electricity rate — the filtration pump, the salt cell, the cleaner and the heating if you have any. It also works out how many turnovers a day your timer setting is actually buying, which for most pools is two or three times what the water needs.

Home Running Cost · Last reviewed September 2026 · How these figures are derived

Your pool

litres
h/day
days

Your energy rates — change any of them

These are New South Wales’s published reference rates. They are a starting point, not what you necessarily pay — put the numbers from your own bill in and every figure on this site changes with them.

c/kWh

The usage rate on your bill, sometimes called the peak or anytime rate.

c/MJ

Gas is billed by the megajoule, not the kilowatt hour.

Saved in this browser and nowhere else. No account, no email, nothing sent to a server.

Your pool costs you$1,317a year · 3,980 kWh of electricity
Your filtration2.7 turnovers a dayThe standard is one a day, two in hot weather. You are paying to filter water that is already clean.
Where the money goes
Filtration pump89% of the bill
$1,172
3,542 kWh a year
Salt chlorinator11% of the bill
$145
438 kWh a year

Before you buy anything

Free saving, before you buy anything$738a year, by setting the timer to 2 h 58 min instead of 8 h
What changes$1,172 → $435Same pump, same pool, same water quality. One turnover a day is the filtration standard.

The hours above are calculated at the flow rate on the pump's energy label, which is measured at a standard resistance. A long pipe run, a roof solar loop or a filter that is due for a clean all reduce real flow, so treat this as a floor and add a margin rather than trimming to the minute.

Every pump, doing the same job

Each of these is running for however long it needs to move the same water as your current pump does on your current setting — so this is a fair comparison of pumps, not a comparison of timer settings. The slow ones run longest and cost least.

Variable speed, 7 stars204 W · 5 h 43 min
$287
$147 a year less867 kWh · label says 444 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 4 registered modelsDraws up to 1,010 W running up for the suction cleaner, against 204 W filtering. A robotic cleaner would let this pump stay slow.Only 4 models on the register carry this rating, so this figure is a much weaker average than the others here.
Variable speed, 5 stars233 W · 6 h 2 min
$288
$146 a year less872 kWh · label says 535 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 51 registered modelsDraws up to 887 W running up for the suction cleaner, against 233 W filtering. A robotic cleaner would let this pump stay slow.
Single speed, 2 stars632 W · 4 h 1 min
$308
$127 a year less929 kWh · label says 964 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 15 registered models
Variable speed, 6 stars212 W · 5 h 43 min
$347
$88 a year less1,049 kWh · label says 461 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 89 registered modelsDraws up to 1,319 W running up for the suction cleaner, against 212 W filtering. A robotic cleaner would let this pump stay slow.
Single speed, 1.5 stars844 W · 3 h 33 min
$362
$73 a year less1,094 kWh · label says 1,140 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 194 registered models
Single speed, 1 star1213 W · 2 h 58 min
$435
the pump you have1,313 kWh · label says 1,368 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 229 registered models
Two speed521 W · 4 h 54 min
$467
$33 a year more1,412 kWh · label says 972 kWh at one 50,000 L turnover · median of 17 registered modelsDraws up to 1,396 W running up for the suction cleaner, against 521 W filtering. A robotic cleaner would let this pump stay slow.

A suction cleaner is modelled as about ten hours a week of pumping at the pump's rated maximum input power. That is the largest single assumption here: a cleaner left permanently connected forces high speed for the whole filtration cycle and costs more than this, one run twice a week costs less, and a cleaner rarely needs everything the pump has. Treat the penalty as an indication of size rather than a figure for your installation — but do not treat it as nothing, because it is not.

Prices and star ratings come from the Australian GEMS Swimming Pool Pumps register. Each class shows the labelled consumption of the median registered product in that class, and how many products the class contains — a figure drawn from four products is a much weaker guide than one drawn from 229.

Heating, if you want it

These are not interchangeable and the cheapest is not automatically the answer. What each one can and cannot do is on the card, and it matters more than the price.

Solar (roof matting)collector
$120
363 kWh a season232 kg CO₂e · $3,500–$8,000 installedExtends the season at each end. It cannot hold a temperature: on a cold, cloudy week it delivers nothing, and it will not give you a warm pool in July anywhere south of Brisbane.
Heat pumpCOP 5.5
$3,678
11,112 kWh a season7112 kg CO₂e · $4,000–$9,000 installedHolds a set temperature whenever it is running, and its efficiency falls as the air gets colder.
Gas heater85% efficient
$7,041
258,844 MJ a season13338 kg CO₂e · $3,000–$6,500 installedHeats fastest of anything here, from cold, on demand. For a pool used a few weekends a year that speed is worth more than the running cost.
Electric element heater100% efficient
$20,229
61,116 kWh a season39114 kg CO₂e · $1,500–$3,500 installedWorks anywhere with a big enough circuit, and is the cheapest box to buy.

What this does not include

Chemicals, salt, filter media, repairs and the water itself. Chemicals run roughly $300 to $600 a year for a typical Australian pool depending on how it is sanitised and how much sun it gets, and a salt cell needs replacing every three to seven years at around $300 to $400. Water is not priced here at all, because it is billed by the utility rather than by the state and this site does not carry water tariffs — the calculator reports the litres and leaves the rate to you.

None of those change which pump or which heater to choose, which is what this page is for. They do change what a pool costs to own, so they are worth knowing before you build one.