If you have a pool, the pump is likely one of the biggest electricity users in your home. It runs for hours a day, every day, quietly turning over the water and adding to your bill.
The good news is that it's also one of the best loads to cover with solar, because it runs during the day, exactly when your panels are producing.
Why a pool pump costs so much to run
A pool pump doesn't seem like much when you glance at it, but it's a workhorse. It circulates and filters your pool's water, and to keep the water clean, it typically runs several hours a day through the swim season, sometimes year-round.
That steady, long run time is what makes it expensive. Unlike something that switches on for a few minutes, a pump draws power hour after hour, day after day. For many North Bay homes with pools, it's one of the biggest lines in their energy use, right up there with heating, cooling, and EV charging. If your bill jumps in the summer, your pool is often part of the reason.
How much it costs comes down to a few things: how powerful the pump is, how many hours a day it runs, and what you're paying for that power. A large pump running long hours through a warm North Bay summer adds up fast, and because pools get used most in exactly the months when electricity demand and rates are highest, the timing works against you. That's where solar shines: it flips that timing in your favor.
Why solar is a natural match for a pool pump
Here's why a pool pump is such a good fit for solar: the timing lines up almost perfectly.
Your solar panels produce the most power during the middle of the day. A pool pump is usually running during those same daytime hours. So instead of pulling that power from the grid, your pool can run on the electricity your roof is making right then. You're matching a big daytime load with a big daytime source, which is about as efficient as it gets.
It gets even better when you consider timing your pump. Because most PG&E customers are on time-of-use rates, running the pump during the day, on your own solar, keeps it out of the expensive evening hours entirely. You cover a major load with power you generated yourself, when it costs the least.
A more efficient pump helps too
If you're thinking about your pool's energy use, the pump itself is worth a look alongside solar. Older single-speed pumps run flat out whenever they're on, while modern variable-speed pumps can run slower for longer, which uses far less energy to move the same water. Pairing an efficient pump with solar is a strong combination: the pump uses less power to begin with, and solar covers what it does use.
You don't need to do everything at once. But if your pump is old and you're already looking at solar, now's a good time to consider both.
Solar covers your whole home, pool included
It's worth stepping back here, because a pool pump usually isn't a reason to install solar on its own. It's one big load among several. When we design a solar system, we look at your whole home's electricity use, including the pool pump, and size the system to cover as much as makes sense for you.
That's the real advantage of designing from your actual usage. A home with a pool uses more power than one without, and it uses a lot of it during the day, which a well-sized solar system is ideally suited to cover. Add a home battery, and you can store your daytime solar to run the rest of the house through the evening too, so the pool isn't the only thing benefiting.
There's also nice flexibility here. You can set your pump's schedule to run during the sunniest part of the day, when your panels are producing the most, so more of the pump's power comes straight from your roof rather than the grid. It's a small adjustment that squeezes even more value out of a system, and it's the kind of thing we talk through when we design around a home with a pool.
Know your pool's real draw
The best way to see what your pool costs is to look at your actual usage. Your PG&E history shows how much power you use and when, and a pool usually shows up as a steady daytime draw. Our post on what uses the most electricity in your home breaks down the usual big loads, including pool pumps.
From there, we can design a system sized to your home and the way you use it. We've been doing exactly that across Marin, Sonoma, and Napa since 1984. We're 100% employee-owned; we've installed more than 9,000 systems, and we're licensed as a General Contractor (B) and Electrical Contractor (C-10). We were also one of the first companies in California to earn the state's C-46 solar license, so you have a local team that knows how to build a system around a home with a pool.
Want to take your pool's running costs off your bill? Contact SolarCraft or call Sonoma/Napa 707.778.0568 or Marin 415.382.7717.
