With the exception of solar products, all electrical equipment incurs a cost to run. Different products use differing amounts of electricity to function; this is displayed by each appliance as the wattage.

A watt is the measurement of energy conversion per hour, in the case of a pond pump, the average amount of electrical energy the appliance converts into energy used to drive water.The wattage rating can be used to determine an appliance’s running cost, the higher the wattage of a product, the more expensive it is to run. Electricity is paid for in pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh), a kilowatt hour is 1,000 watts of energy consumed per hour.To calculate the running costs you need to convert the appliance’s wattage rating into kilowatts (watts ÷1000) this will give the device’s kilowatt per hour rating.You also need to know your cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. This varies from supplier to supplier and can usually be found on your utility bill; the average domestic cost per kWh in the UK is currently around 13.5p.The formula for running costs is;

(Running watts ÷ 1000) x cost of electricity

E.g. an Aquaforce 6000 Filter Pump has a running cost of 65 watts, so it uses 65 watts per hour;Running Cost = kWh x p/kWh

= (65 ÷ 1000) x 13.5p

= 0.065 x 13.5p

= 0.8775p per hour If the pump is running for 24 hours a day; 0.8775p x 24 hours= 21.06p (or £0.2106) per day …and if the pump is run nonstop throughout the year; £0.2106 x 365 days= £76.87 per year