How much does showering cost? And what is the water consumption when showering?

Is it cheaper to take a shower or a bath? What is the water consumption of a full bath? How much does showering cost and how can you save money? Which is cheaper? As is so often the case, the answer is: it depends.

What does showering cost?

On average, a German one-person household uses 128 litres of water per day (as of 2021). On average, this includes around 40 litres of hot water for the daily shower. That's around a third of our daily water consumption. But how much does it cost to shower for five or ten minutes?

Duration, water consumption and type of water heating play a major role

• Water flow rate of the shower head in litres per minute
• Price of hot water or heating the water with electricity, gas or oil
• Cost of waste water
• Duration of the shower

Several factors determine the cost of a single shower. The shower fitting, overhead shower or hand shower determine how high the water flow is in litres per minute. Whether you heat your water with electricity (e.g. instantaneous water heaters), gas or oil also plays a role. The cost of waste water also needs to be taken into account. And of course it depends on how long you shower. All these factors are individual. You should therefore base all the values mentioned on approximate values.

6-litre shower heads save a third

The costs for 5 minutes of showering are approximately as follows.

• Economical shower head: EUR 0.24
• Rain shower: 0.80 EUR
• Average shower head: 0.50 EUR

Particularly economical shower heads use a maximum of six litres per minute, while rain shower heads quickly reach 20 litres per minute - three times as much. So find out about the consumption of your new shower system when you buy it.

Let's assume a particularly economical shower head with a flow rate of 6 litres per minute, an electricity price of EUR 0.26 per kWh and a price of EUR 1.61 per 1000 litres of water. With this calculation, 5 minutes of showering costs 0.24 EUR. If you shower for ten minutes with the same shower head, the cost doubles to just under EUR 0.50 per shower.

If your shower head uses 20 litres per minute, a 5-minute shower costs around 80 cents and a 10-minute shower costs around 1.60 EUR. If you extrapolate these small amounts over a year (365 showers), you will notice a significant difference. 88.80 with the 6-litre shower and around €296 with the 20-litre shower with a shower duration of 5 minutes each. Logically - three times as much.

Roughly speaking, you can say the following for the average value of the two extremes: An average shower (consumption of 12l/min) of 5 minutes costs around 50 cents and uses 60 litres of water. For a 10-minute shower you pay one euro and use 120 litres of drinking water.

You can easily find out for yourself how much your shower head uses. Fill a 1 litre container to the brim and time it. You can calculate your individual consumption with a rule of three.

What does bathing cost?

An average bathtub holds 140 litres of water. If you calculate with the above values, the total cost per full bath is EUR 1.14. With a 6-litre shower head and a shower duration of five minutes, you could shower just under five times instead.

One bath = five economical showers

How can I reduce costs and water consumption?

By taking a few small steps and choosing the right bathroom fitting, you can save a lot of money over the year when showering.

• choose an economical shower head (max. 12 litres/minute)
• Shower heads with an economy button or the addition of air also help
• do not let the water run when applying soap / washing your hair
• set your water heater to the optimum temperature: if the water is at a comfortable temperature when fully turned on, the water heater is set correctly

Further information