So, one suggestion I have is to see if your electric company charges you different rates based on different times of day. For example, every day for me my rates TRIPLE during peak hours of 3pm to 8pm. So I just don't ever run during peak hours. However, you are suggested to run your pump during mostly daylight hours because thats when the pool is losing chlorine. So I run as much as I can during the nonpeak hours and then a little at night to get the number of hours per day my pool needs at maximum savings. Most pool folks will tell you to run your pump 8 hours per day or so... or "1 hour per every 10 degrees fahrenheit". If you have a low use pool or a pool that gets low amounts of debris, you can run less. It just depends on your pool. My suggestion would be to run it for that amount of time and gradually cut back 1 hour or so and see if things are still clean to your liking. You can gradually lower things down and go to as little as 2-4 hours a day if you have low debris, low bather load, and are happy with water clarity and not getting algae. If you use a SWCG then you have to run the pump long enough for the generator to sufficiently generate enough chlorine.