How much does an aquarium cost per month in North Carolina?

About $7.47 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 15.16¢/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?

North Carolina has the 16th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.

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Cost to run an aquarium in North Carolina (July 2026 rates)

At 15.16¢ per kilowatt-hour — North Carolina's average residential price in July 2026 — running an aquarium costs $89.64 a year. That is 17% less than the national average of $108. North Carolina's residential rate is up 13.4% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $79.06 to $89.64 a year.

Per hour: 1.0¢
Per day of use: 24.6¢
Per month: $7.47
Per year: $89.64

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 North Carolina compares

North Carolina pays 15.16¢/kWh, the 16th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $18.63 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
Montana	14.99¢	$7.39	$88.64
Florida	15.03¢	$7.41	$88.87
North Carolina	15.16¢	$7.47	$89.64
Kansas	15.27¢	$7.52	$90.29
South Dakota	15.37¢	$7.57	$90.88

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an aquarium.

What else costs about the same in North Carolina

Gaming pc$88.53 a year in NC Well pump$83.00 a year in NC Dehumidifier$81.86 a year in NC

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 North Carolina?: About $7.47 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 15.16¢/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?: North Carolina has the 16th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.