How much does an aquarium cost per month in Rhode Island?

About $14.40 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 29.23¢/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?

Rhode Island has the 6th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.

Home › Aquarium › Rhode Island

Cost to run an aquarium in Rhode Island (June 2026 rates)

At 29.23¢ per kilowatt-hour — Rhode Island's average residential price in June 2026 — running an aquarium costs $173 a year. That is 59% more than the national average of $108. Rhode Island's residential rate is up 8.9% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from $159 to $173 a year.

Per hour: 2.0¢
Per day of use: 47.4¢
Per month: $14.40
Per year: $173

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 Rhode Island compares

Rhode Island pays 29.23¢/kWh, the 6th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $64.39 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same aquarium costs $77.52 a year in Nevada and $312 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $234 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New Hampshire	27.01¢	$13.31	$160
Alaska	28.21¢	$13.90	$167
Rhode Island	29.23¢	$14.40	$173
New York	29.49¢	$14.53	$174
Maine	29.59¢	$14.58	$175

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

What else costs about the same in Rhode Island

Gaming pc$171 a year in RI Well pump$160 a year in RI Dehumidifier$158 a year in RI

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 Rhode Island?: About $14.40 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 29.23¢/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?: Rhode Island has the 6th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.