How much it costs to run a hot tub in Alaska

Homes in Alaska pay 27.09¢ per kWh on average, 49% more than the US average of 18.19¢: the 8th-highest rate of the 50 states and DC.

For the median 6- to 7-seater that is $14 a month more than the same tub at the US average, about $163 a year.

The nearest rates to Alaska's are New Hampshire (26.79¢) and Connecticut (27.97¢). EIA's figure averages every utility and month in the state. The rate on your own bill, delivery charges included, is the one to use, and the calculator on hot tub running cost takes it.

Yes. Alaska's January averages 4.2°F, below freezing and the coldest of the 51. The coldest January in NOAA's 1991–2020 record, 2012, averaged −12.8°F.

The standby figure comes from a California test run in a room near 60°F, with the result scaled to a 37°F gap between 102°F water and the air, as if the air were 65°F. In an average Alaska January the gap is about 98°F, 61°F more than the test. Even averaged over the whole year, Alaska is 28.0°F, 37°F colder than the test assumes, so a tub there draws more than its listing for much of the year, not only in winter.

Makers show the effect too. Hot Spring's own example puts one of its tubs at $13.92 a month to heat in 75°F weather and $36.61 in 35°F weather, at the same 11¢ rate. Alaska's January, at 4.2°F, is colder than the cold end of that example. We don't turn that into an Alaska number: no public test shows how each tub's draw changes with the cold, so the costs here stay at the tested standby. In an Alaska winter, treat them as a floor.

For an Alaska winter, compare standby watts within a size: the best hot tubs for cold climates ranks the lowest, and hot tub insulation explains how makers hold the heat.

About $185 a year for a 6- to 7-seater. The Nordic Hot Tubs Crown draws 131 W on standby against the 209 W median, $26 a month against $41 at Alaska's rate.

The 6- to 7-seaters we track run from 131 W to 287 W, which in Alaska is $370 a year apart, against $249 at the US average. The higher the rate, the more an efficient tub is worth. Every tub with a filing is ranked on the most energy-efficient hot tubs.

Use. The figures assume nobody gets in. A soak runs the jet pumps and opens the cover, and the heater has to replace the lost heat; in an Alaska winter more of it escapes while the cover is off.

Temperature. The heater holds the gap between the water and the air. Each degree you take off the set point narrows that gap around the clock, which counts most in an Alaska winter.

Cover. The test runs with the maker's own cover in place. A cover left open, or one that no longer seals, loses heat the test never measured.

Refills. Heating the median six-seater's 392 gallons from 55°F hose water to 102°F takes at least 45 kWh, about $12 at Alaska's rate. Winter tap water in Alaska is colder than that, so it takes more.

About $85 a month, or $1,023 a year, for the median swim spa at 27.09¢ per kWh. The median of the 44 swim spas with a California filing draws 431 W on standby. That is about 2.1 times the median 6- to 7-seat hot tub. Costs by model are on swim spa cost.