A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1 Running Cost (Electric Water Heater)
What the A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1 costs to run
The A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1 is certified by ENERGY STAR at 970 kWh a year, cheaper than most models in its category to run among electric water heaters currently certified.
That $182 is priced at 18.8¢/kWh, the average of all 51 state rates this site tracks. Your own state's rate is one click away.
Efficient, or not, for a electric water heater
Against the category average of 1,105 kWh/yr, this model uses 12.2% less, ranking 255 of 596 electric water heaters tracked here for running cost. That average is drawn from all 596 electric water heaters ENERGY STAR currently certifies, not an outside number, a $25/year gap from this model at the national rate. Full sourcing is in the sourcing notes.
Right next to it on the list
A rank or two either side of the A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1: JETGLAS RE2H50S- ($177/yr, 944 kWh/yr), then American HPHE6250H045DV 1 ($182/yr, 970 kWh/yr).
Within the A. O. Smith lineup
Ranked 25 of A. O. Smith's 61 certified electric water heaters, this sits between the HPS10-50H45DV 2 ($156/yr, the brand's cheapest) and the HPV10-80H01DV 2 ($311/yr, its priciest).
What this adds up to over time
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical electric water heater's service life at 11 years; run the A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1 that long and it costs about $2,006 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Shopping for a new one
Efficient as certified electric water heaters go, $182/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
See what else is certified in this category before you decide.
If you're keeping it
$182/year to run is the predictable cost of the A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1; a protection plan covers the unpredictable one, a repair bill.
Where this number comes from
Two sourced numbers, nothing modeled: ENERGY STAR's certified kWh/yr for this exact model, and EIA's published state electricity rate. Ranked 255 of 596, the A. O. Smith FPTU-50 1 sits in the middle of the electric water heater category, see the guide to why your state changes this number for the other half of the math.