Cost to run an aquarium in Kentucky (July 2026 rates)
At 13.81¢ per kilowatt-hour — Kentucky's average residential price in July 2026 — running an aquarium costs $81.66 a year. That is 25% less than the national average of $108. Kentucky's residential rate is up 5.2% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $77.64 to $81.66 a year.
- Per hour
- 0.9¢
- Per day of use
- 22.4¢
- Per month
- $6.80
- Per year
- $81.66
Assumption: 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — 591 kWh a year. A 55-gallon tank: heater, filter and light combined, averaged over a day. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How Kentucky compares
Kentucky pays 13.81¢/kWh, the 8th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $26.61 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same aquarium costs $75.21 a year in Louisiana and $284 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $209 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho | 13.73¢ | $6.77 | $81.19 |
| Nebraska | 13.78¢ | $6.79 | $81.48 |
| Kentucky | 13.81¢ | $6.80 | $81.66 |
| Arkansas | 14.33¢ | $7.06 | $84.73 |
| Oklahoma | 14.35¢ | $7.07 | $84.85 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an aquarium.
What else costs about the same in Kentucky
Cutting the number down
- The heater is nearly all of it, and its runtime depends on the room. A tank in a cool room costs more to keep warm.
- Insulating the back and sides of the tank cuts heater runtime without changing the view.
- A lid limits evaporative heat loss, which is the main way an open tank sheds the warmth you paid for.
Questions
- How much does an aquarium cost per month in Kentucky?
- About $6.80 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 13.81¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does an aquarium use?
- Roughly 591 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- Kentucky has the 8th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.