Cost to run an aquarium in Texas (July 2026 rates)
At 15.88¢ per kilowatt-hour — Texas's average residential price in July 2026 — running an aquarium costs $93.90 a year. That is 13% less than the national average of $108. Texas's residential rate is up 3.4% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $90.82 to $93.90 a year.
- Per hour
- 1.1¢
- Per day of use
- 25.7¢
- Per month
- $7.82
- Per year
- $93.90
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 Texas compares
Texas pays 15.88¢/kWh, the 22nd cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $14.37 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 15.47¢ | $7.62 | $91.47 |
| West Virginia | 15.78¢ | $7.78 | $93.31 |
| Texas | 15.88¢ | $7.82 | $93.90 |
| Oregon | 15.97¢ | $7.87 | $94.43 |
| Iowa | 15.99¢ | $7.88 | $94.55 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an aquarium.
What else costs about the same in Texas
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 Texas?
- About $7.82 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 15.88¢/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?
- Texas has the 22nd cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.