What a robotic pool cleaner costs to run

What running cost is on this page

A robotic cleaner is a second electrical load next to the pool pump. Maytronics describes it as independent of other pool equipment, powered by an electric motor. Kreepy Krauly says the opposite cost story for suction: a robot is externally powered and adds to the electricity bill, while a suction cleaner can effectively cost zero to run because it uses the existing pump. This guide does not pick a winner. It shows how to turn a published wattage, a cycle length, how often you run the unit, and your own usage rate into dollars.

Electricity running cost is not the purchase ticket. Dated Australian selling prices still belong in the picture so the electricity line is not mistaken for the whole bill. From A$1,149 at MyDolphin for the Dolphin E10, checked 20 September 2026. From A$809.10 at Aiper AU for the Scuba S1, with a compare-at of A$999.99 on that page the same day. The M700 page lists RRP A$3,999 and an on-sale ticket of A$3,699 the same day. Those are listed prices, not a ranking, and they are not electricity.

Nothing here is a first-hand trial. The site owner has no pool. See how we review. Research picks by use case sit on the robotic pool cleaner hub. The robot finder matches models in this site's dataset. How the types differ is in robotic versus suction versus pressure.

Estimate the electricity cost

Kilowatt hours per cycle = watts × (cycle minutes ÷ 60) ÷ 1,000. Cost a week = kilowatt hours per cycle × cycles a week × your usage rate in dollars per kilowatt hour. Cost a year = cost a week × 52. energy.gov.au says the usage charge is the cost of the electricity you use and appears on bills in cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh). Divide those cents by 100 to enter dollars: 33.14 cents is 0.3314.

The calculator below keeps watts, minutes, cycles and rate in the page URL so a result can be shared. It does not pre-fill a wattage or a rate. A nameplate is not a measured bill. For a corded robot, use a published power-supply wattage from the sections below. For a cordless robot, wall energy is the charge, not the in-water runtime; enter the charger-label watts and the charging minutes if that is the figure you have. Australian product pages fetched for this guide do not publish cordless charger watts, so those stay unpublished here.

A shareable check of the arithmetic, not a default and not a named model's bill: 150 watts for 120 minutes, three cycles a week, A$0.40 per kilowatt hour. That is 0.3 kilowatt hours per cycle, 0.9 kilowatt hours a week, A$0.36 a week and A$18.72 a year. The 150 W figure is the EX6050 iQ operating power. The 120 minutes and A$0.40 are round example inputs so the arithmetic is easy to check. The EX6050 iQ page fetched for this guide does not list cycle minutes.

Published power draw

Corded robots publish a power-supply wattage on some Australian pages and omit it on others. The genuine E10 / X30 / S50 on/off power supply is labelled 120 W, with a 1-year parts warranty on that replacement unit. The M700 / M600 / X6 Wi-Fi power supply is labelled 180 W, also with a 1-year parts warranty on the replacement. The EX6050 iQ lists control-box supply 200–240 VAC and operating power 30 V DC / 150 W. Those are nameplates. This site has not measured draw at the outlet.

The FR2000 iQ lists supply 110–240 VAC and supply voltage 29.4 V, with a lithium-ion 9.6 Ah battery. That specification table does not publish a wattage, so wattage for that model stays unpublished here. Do not convert voltage and amp-hours into a running-cost wattage. The calculator needs a watts figure you can source.

Pressure cleaners that need a booster add a documented extra load. The Polaris PB4-50B lists horse power 1.5 HP, voltage 240 V, frequency 50 Hz, input power 1500 W, and full load amps 6.6. That is the booster only, not the main filtration pump. The Polaris 280 lists Booster Pump: Yes. Maytronics calls pressure cleaners expensive in electricity because they need an external pool pump. The 1500 W nameplate is the sourced extra figure this page can show.

Suction cleaners add no second motor. Kreepy Krauly says they can effectively cost zero to run because they use the existing pool pump. Maytronics says the opposite cost story: because suction needs the pool system on, electricity use is higher over time than a self-sufficient robot. Neither page publishes a wattage for a named suction head. This guide does not invent one. The electricity for suction is the electricity of whatever pump is already running, at whatever speed that pump is set to.

Cycle length and how often you run it

Cycle minutes are model-specific and sometimes a menu, not a single number. The E10 lists cleaning cycle time 1.5 hours for pools up to 8 m, floor only. The M700 lists cleaning cycles 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 hours. Enter the cycle you actually run. When a page lists several labelled times, this site does not pick one as the model's cycle.

Maytronics says every pool should be cleaned regularly once a week, and recommends activating a Dolphin at least once, or even twice a week, depending on pool use. That is a manufacturer suggestion, not a default in the calculator. The Scuba S1 marketing page lists schedule examples of 45 minutes four times a week, 60 minutes three times a week, and 90 minutes twice a week. Floor Mode on that page is 150 minutes. Battery life is listed as up to 180 minutes. Eco mode is listed as 270 minutes. Enter the mode you use. Do not mix a floor-only figure with an eco figure.

Cordless in-water time is not the same as wall energy. The FR2000 iQ lists battery life as one full cycle of 2 hours 30 minutes, with charging under 5 hours. AquaSense Pro lists 5 hours floor cleaning and 9.5 hours surface cleaning, and 3.5 hours for a full recharge. The C2 lists up to 180 minutes running time in Eco Mode and 3 hours charging. The Scuba S1 lists charging time 3–4 hours. Those charging times are not wattage. If you want cordless wall energy, read the charger label and enter that watts figure with the charging minutes.

Your electricity rate

energy.gov.au says a tariff has a daily supply charge and a usage charge. The supply charge is cents per day even if you use nothing. The usage charge is cents per kilowatt hour. Some bills show more than one usage charge, depending on the tariff. A robot's electricity line uses the usage rate, not the daily supply charge, unless you are comparing whole-house bills. This calculator does not add a supply charge.

Rates vary by state and by plan. energy.gov.au points households to Energy Made Easy in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, and to Victorian Energy Compare in Victoria. Energy Made Easy states that it is a free, independent government service for those jurisdictions. This page does not set a default rate from those tools.

The Australian Energy Regulator's Default Market Offer is a safety-net cap on standing offers in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia, effective 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 on the page fetched for this guide. Residential flat-rate usage caps on that page include Ausgrid 33.14 c/kWh, Endeavour Energy 33.73 c/kWh, Essential Energy 35.01 c/kWh, Energex 27.97 c/kWh and SA Power Networks 41.91 c/kWh. Those are caps on standing-offer usage rates, not a promise that your market plan matches them. energy.gov.au says the DMO is also a reference price. Enter the cents from your own bill.

Worked examples from sourced figures

These examples use nameplates and labelled cycles with the Ausgrid DMO flat usage cap of 33.14 c/kWh (A$0.3314), which is one official figure from the AER DMO page. They are arithmetic checks, not measured bills, and they are not defaults in the calculator.

Corded, E10 1.5 hours and the 120 W power supply, twice a week as Maytronics' upper published suggestion: 120 × 1.5 ÷ 1,000 = 0.18 kWh per cycle, 0.36 kWh a week, A$0.12 a week and A$6.20 a year when money is rounded to the nearest cent (0.36 × 0.3314 = 0.119304 before rounding).

Corded, M700 2-hour option (one of 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5) and the 180 W power supply, twice a week: 180 × 2 ÷ 1,000 = 0.36 kWh per cycle, 0.72 kWh a week, A$0.24 a week and A$12.41 a year (0.72 × 0.3314 = 0.238608 before rounding).

Pressure booster, PB4-50B 1500 W if it ran for the Polaris 280 'less than 3 hours' window, twice a week: 1500 × 3 ÷ 1,000 = 4.5 kWh per run, 9 kWh a week, A$2.98 a week and A$155.10 a year (9 × 0.3314 = 2.9826 before rounding). That is the booster only. The 280 page says less than 3 hours, so 3 hours is a ceiling taken from that sentence, not a measured runtime.

Maytronics claims Dolphin robots can reduce electricity consumption by up to 80% / $350 per year compared with traditional vacuums that rely on high-energy pool pumps. That is a manufacturer claim on that page. This site has not measured bills and does not treat $350 as a calculator output.

Purchase price and warranty are separate from electricity

Electricity is one line. The machine still has a purchase ticket and an Australian warranty term. These amounts are listed prices on the named pages, checked 20 September 2026. They are not a ranking. Retailer tickets can differ from a compare-at or RRP on the same day.

Corded examples: from A$1,149 at MyDolphin for the E10. EX6050 iQ A$2,889. M700 RRP A$3,999, on sale A$3,699. Cordless examples: Scuba S1 A$809.10 with compare-at A$999.99; C2 A$849.99 with compare-at A$1,299.99; AquaSense Pro A$2,499 with compare-at A$3,199; FR2000 iQ A$3,089. Pressure example: Polaris 280 A$1,489, plus the booster, whose fetched page publishes electrical specs but no Australian dollar price, so this guide does not invent a booster ticket.

Zodiac's express warranty, effective 15 May 2026, is issued by Fluidra Group Australia Pty Ltd for products bought from authorised dealers. EX6050 iQ is listed at 3 years, or 1200 running hours on the motor block, whichever comes first. FR2000 iQ matches that 3-year / 1200-hour motor term. DuoX DX4050 iQ is listed at 2 years or 800 motor hours. Polaris 280 is listed at 2 years. The booster pump PB450 is listed at 2 years, with 1 year on the mechanical seal. Claims go through MyFluidra or 1300 763 021, as that warranty page states. The E10 lists 2 years (limited). The M700 lists 4 years. Aiper's Australian warranty table lists Scuba S1 and Scuba S1 (2025) at 24 months; the Scuba S1 store page also states a 2-year warranty. The C2 and AquaSense Pro pages both state 2 years. Australian Consumer Law still applies alongside those express terms.

How to use the estimate

Copy the published watts and a labelled cycle from the product page, count how often you actually run the unit, and enter the usage cents from your bill divided by 100. Compare that electricity line with suction (pump already running) and with a booster (1500 W extra on the Polaris PB4-50B page) using the same rate. Pool volume does not change watts, but it is still the figure you need for salt and chemical dosing: use the pool volume calculator, then the pool salt calculator and the pool chemical calculator.

Research reviews of robots sold in Australia start at the Dolphin E10, Dolphin M700, Aiper Scuba S1, Wybot C2, Beatbot AquaSense Pro and Zodiac FreeRider FR2000 iQ. Those pages are labelled research reviews until a tester report exists. Match a model to the pool with the robot finder. This is a research guide. It does not replace the product page, the warranty document, the charger label, or the bill in your name.

Sources

Every URL below was fetched for this guide. Figures are copied from those pages. This is not a first-hand trial.

• energy.gov.au (checked 2026-09-20)
• Australian Energy Regulator (checked 2026-09-20)
• Energy Made Easy (checked 2026-09-20)
• MyDolphin (checked 2026-09-20)
• MyDolphin (checked 2026-09-20)
• Zodiac Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Zodiac Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Zodiac Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Maytronics Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Maytronics Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• MyDolphin (checked 2026-09-20)
• MyDolphin (checked 2026-09-20)
• Zodiac Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Zodiac Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Kreepy Krauly (checked 2026-09-20)
• Aiper AU (checked 2026-09-20)
• Aiper (checked 2026-09-20)
• Aiper (checked 2026-09-20)
• Beatbot Australia (checked 2026-09-20)
• Wybot Australia (checked 2026-09-20)