How Hard Water Quietly Increases Your Household Electricity Bill in Malta

Most households in Malta blame high electricity bills on rising energy prices or heavy appliance use. What very few people realise is that hard water and limescale buildup can silently increase household energy consumption month after month.

Not because water is unsafe — but because limescale makes your home work harder than it should.

Hard Water in Malta Is Not a Theory — It’s a Fact

Malta’s water is naturally hard due to local geology and desalination processes. This is openly acknowledged by the Water Services Corporation (WSC).

Hard water is safe to drink, but it contains high levels of calcium and magnesium. When water is heated or circulated repeatedly, these minerals form limescale deposits inside household systems.

Official WSC information confirms that limescale:

• builds up inside appliances and pipework
• reduces efficiency
• increases energy consumption
• shortens appliance lifespan

🔗 Source: https://www.wsc.com.mt/limescale/

What Limescale Does Inside a Household

Limescale is not just a cosmetic issue on taps. Inside a home, it affects every water-dependent appliance, including:

• water heaters and boilers
• washing machines
• dishwashers
• water pumps
• internal plumbing, valves and fittings

From an engineering perspective, limescale acts as an insulating and resistive layer:

• On heating elements → heat transfer becomes less efficient
• In pumps and pipes → resistance increases
• In appliances → cycles take longer
• Across the household → electricity demand rises

The key issue is not one dramatic failure — it is constant, invisible inefficiency.

How Much Energy Can Limescale Waste?

Multiple engineering and energy-efficiency studies show that limescale buildup can cause major efficiency losses, especially in systems that heat or circulate water.

What research shows:

• Limescale has very poor thermal conductivity, meaning heat struggles to pass through it
• As buildup thickens, heating systems must use significantly more electricity
• In documented household and laboratory conditions, efficiency losses of 30–50% are reported

A peer-reviewed engineering study published by Scitepress demonstrated that heavy scale buildup can reduce heating efficiency by up to 50%, because the heating element must work longer and harder to reach the same temperature.

🔗 Engineering study: https://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2018/97738/97738.pdf

Energy-efficiency reviews published via Wiley Online Library also link hard water scale to higher household energy consumption and reduced appliance performance.

🔗 Energy efficiency review: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcs.12149

These are not marketing claims — they are measured engineering outcomes.

Why This Appears Only as a Higher Electricity Bill

Your electricity bill does not show: “Extra cost caused by limescale”. Instead, limescale shows up as:

• longer heating times
• appliances running harder
• pumps cycling more often
• increased total kWh usage

All of this is merged into one final number at the bottom of the bill.

Household Limescale Savings Calculator

Enter your current average monthly electricity bill (what you pay today). Then select an estimated inefficiency level caused by limescale to see how much you could be paying less with a clean, protected system.

And We Haven’t Even Talked About Repair Costs Yet

Electricity is only part of the picture. Limescale also causes accelerated wear, blockages, overheating and premature failure, which leads to recurring repair and replacement costs across the home.

Typical real-world examples in Malta include:

• Tap replacement: €150–200 (depending on tap quality, brand and labour)
• Electric boiler replacement: €350–450 (unit + installation, depending on size and condition)
• Water pump replacement: €250–300 even when it is “just the pump”
• Solar water heater maintenance: €500–600 per year is not uncommon (descaling, valves, circulation issues, sensors, pressure components)

And this is before considering that most homes also have washing machines, dishwashers, full internal plumbing systems, angle valves, seals, hoses and fittings. Each individual repair may seem manageable — but together they form a repeating cost cycle driven by untreated hard water.

What This Means for Maltese Homes

Hard water is unavoidable in Malta. Ongoing damage from limescale is not.

Reducing limescale buildup helps:

• appliances operate closer to their designed efficiency
• water heats faster using less energy
• pumps experience less mechanical stress
• maintenance becomes more predictable
• long-term household costs stabilise

Not dramatically. Quietly. Over time.

A Different Approach to Hard Water

Limescalefree does not soften water and does not remove minerals. Instead, it changes how minerals behave, so limescale cannot attach and build up inside your system.

We don’t change water prices.
We reduce the damage hard water causes — quietly, over time.

Sources & Further Reading

• Water Services Corporation Malta – Limescale: https://www.wsc.com.mt/limescale/
• Engineering study on limescale insulation and efficiency loss: https://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2018/97738/97738.pdf
• Energy efficiency review linking hard water to higher household energy use: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijcs.12149