How much does it cost to run a well pump?
About $7.96 a month on the typical usage below, at the U.S. average $0.1816/kWh. Set your own rate and usage and the figure updates instantly.
A well pump pulls ~750–1,500W and kicks on with every tap, shower and toilet flush.
Running a well pump at 1,000W running 6% of 24 h costs about
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If your home is on a well, the pump runs every time water moves — a shower, a flushed toilet, the washing machine, the garden hose. Each run is short, but they add up across a day, and a deeper well or a bigger pump pulls more watts each time.
It's an easy cost to overlook because it's hidden in the basement or the yard, but for a busy household it's a steady contributor to the bill.
What drives the cost of running a well pump
- Total water use — every fixture in the house triggers the pump.
- Well depth and pump horsepower set how many watts each run pulls.
- A waterlogged pressure tank makes the pump short-cycle, running far more than it should.
How to cut it
- Fix running toilets and dripping taps — they cycle the pump around the clock.
- Check the pressure tank's air charge so the pump isn't short-cycling.
- Water the garden deeply but less often rather than long daily runs.
Data basis
- Electricity price
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B, June 2026 year to date, released 2026-08-26. Retrieved 2026-09-11. Average residential revenue per kWh. A benchmark average, not a utility tariff — it excludes the fixed charges, tiers, time-of-use windows, taxes and fuel adjustments on a real bill.
- Appliance energy
- A representative running power for a well pump, compiled from published manufacturer specifications and public appliance-energy guidance, and presented as a typical figure with the usual range shown above. It is not a measurement of your unit, and we do not claim a single primary source for it — the nameplate on your appliance, or an hour with a plug-in energy meter, beats any typical figure we can publish.
- Usage model
- Cycling load — 1,000W running 6% of 24 h
- International prices
- rounded typical household tariffs for each market, in that market's own currency unless the row says US$ equivalent. These are planning benchmarks with no single primary source; enter the per-kWh price from your own bill for an accurate figure.
- Last reviewed
- 20 August 2026. Next scheduled review 20 February 2027.
- Corrections
- Think a figure is wrong? Tell us at corrections@watt-dollar.com and see our corrections policy.
What different sizes of well pump draw
The typical figure above is a middle-of-the-road unit. Since a well pump is sold by motor size (HP), here's the running power to expect across the common sizes — set the wattage to match yours for an exact cost.
| Motor size | Typical running power | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 HP | 900W | shallow well or small home |
| 3/4 HP | 1,200W | typical residential well |
| 1 HP | 1,500W | deeper well or larger home |
| 1.5 HP | 2,000W | deep well / high-demand household |
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a well pump per month?
On the assumption shown above — 1,000W running 6% of 24 h — a well pump costs about $7.96 a month, or $95.45 a year, at $0.1816/kWh. That price is the U.S. average; set your own rate and usage above and the figure updates.
How is that worked out?
Running power x hours connected x the share of that time the motor actually runs. At 1,000W running 6% of 24 h that is 1.44 kWh a day, which at $0.1816/kWh costs $0.26 a day.
How can I cut the cost of running a well pump?
Fix running toilets and dripping taps — they cycle the pump around the clock. As a worked example: getting the run share down from 6% to 4.8% takes it from $95.45 to $76.36 a year, about $19.09 less.