How Much Electricity Does a Hot Tub Use?

A hot tub costs almost nothing to heat up and a surprising amount to keep hot. The energy does not go into the water you sit in; it goes into replacing heat that leaks out of the shell, the plumbing and, above all, the cover, 24 hours a day, whether anyone uses the tub or not.

The heater is big but rarely running

The heater is sized to recover temperature quickly, not to run constantly. On a 240 V circuit it is typically 5,500 W, which would cost $1.01 an hour if it ran continuously. It does not. In steady state it cycles on for a few minutes at a time to hold the setpoint.

The circulation pump is the other constant. Many tubs run a low-speed circulation pump around the clock to keep water moving through the filter and heater, drawing 100 to 200 W. The big jet pumps only run while you are in the tub, and their contribution to the monthly total is minor unless you soak daily.

Five things that decide your hot tub bill

Almost everything about hot tub running cost comes down to heat loss, and the ranking is consistent:

• The cover, by a wide margin. Covers absorb water over time and a waterlogged cover insulates poorly and gets heavy. If yours is noticeably heavier than it was, it is costing you money continuously. A replacement cover often pays for itself in a single cold season.
• Ambient temperature. Holding 102 degrees when it is 30 outside is a 72 degree gradient. In summer it might be 20. Winter cost is routinely double summer cost for the same tub.
• Setpoint. Every degree lower reduces the gradient. Dropping from 104 to 100 is a meaningful reduction and most people cannot tell without a thermometer.
• Cabinet insulation. Full-foam tubs hold heat far better than the partially insulated budget models, which is where most of the difference between a cheap tub and an expensive one shows up on your bill rather than in the showroom.
• Wind exposure. A tub on an exposed deck loses heat much faster than one against a wall or behind a screen.

Leaving it on versus turning it off

The advice to turn the tub off between uses is usually wrong. Letting a tub cool to ambient and reheating it takes a large amount of energy, and it takes many hours, which means it is never ready when you want it. For a tub used weekly or more, holding temperature is both cheaper and more practical.

Lowering the setpoint between uses is the version of that idea that does work. Dropping to 95 during the week and raising it a few hours before you plan to use it captures most of the saving without the long recovery. Many controllers have an economy or sleep mode that does exactly this on a schedule.

If the tub genuinely goes unused for a month or more, shutting it down properly is worth it. Partial measures, such as leaving it filled but off in freezing weather, risk burst plumbing that costs far more than the electricity saved.

Hot tub cost across electricity rates

Hot tub running cost by state

How this compares to everything else you plug in

Per hour of runtime against other continuous household loads.

Questions people actually ask

Related running costs

• How much electricity a pool pump uses — 1,500 W typical, about $0.28 an hour.
• How much electricity a electric water heater uses — 4,000 W typical, about $0.74 an hour.

Running it on solar

A hot tub uses 6.00 kWh a day, which needs about 5 standard 400 W panels. Full array, battery and inverter sizing is on how many solar panels to run a hot tub.

Run the numbers on your own bill

• Electricity Cost Calculator
• Time-of-Use Electricity Bill Calculator

Costs on this page use a national average residential rate of 18.44¢ per kWh (August 2026, EIA-derived state residential averages). Your own rate is printed on your electricity bill and is the number that actually matters. Every figure here is recalculated from one central rate setting, so these tables move when the national average moves.