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Power Cost Estimator

Calculate electricity costs for your tech.

Device Configuration

W

Not sure? Check PCPartPicker or BuildCores.

Effective Power: 680W

Hours
$/kWh

Not sure? Check global prices on World Population Review.

Daily Cost
$0.49
Monthly Cost
$14.69
Yearly Cost
$178.70
993 kWh / year

About this tool

The Power Cost Estimator turns wattage into money. Enter the average draw of a device in watts, how many hours per day it runs, and your local electricity rate, and it returns daily, monthly, and annual cost, plus total kWh consumption so you can compare against your utility bill. It's the fastest way to check whether leaving a gaming PC on overnight, running a home server 24/7, or upgrading to an OLED TV is actually going to be noticeable on your bill.

Use it to size an uninterruptible power supply, decide whether it's cheaper to run a 4090 less often or a 4070 more often, or justify (or veto) a homelab build to your family. The tool supports any currency and rate structure, so it works whether you pay €0.35/kWh in Europe, $0.12/kWh in parts of the US, or anything in between.

Formula

Annual cost = (watts × hoursPerDay × 365 ÷ 1,000) × rate. The division by 1,000 converts watt-hours to kilowatt-hours, which is how utilities bill you. A 100 W device running 24/7 consumes 876 kWh/year; at €0.30/kWh that's €263.

When to use it

Ideal for comparing two GPUs or CPUs with different TDPs over their expected lifespan, sizing your electricity budget before building a server or mining rig, or deciding how aggressively to tune your PC's idle power states. Pair with the WebGPU Benchmark and RAM Latency Calculator to weigh performance against efficiency for a specific workload.

Popular device profiles

Pre-computed yearly and monthly cost for the devices visitors ask about most, gaming PCs, laptops, servers, and consoles.

850 W gaming PC
Current high-end rig running a few hours a day
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500 W gaming PC
Mainstream mid-range build
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100 W home server
NAS or always-on home lab node
View details ➜
1200 W server 24/7
Full-load rack box left on continuously
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230 W gaming laptop
Mobile gaming at wall-plugged TGP
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250 W game console
PS5 / Xbox Series X at full chat
View details ➜

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to run a gaming PC 24/7?
At 300 W continuous draw and €0.30/kWh, a gaming PC left on 24/7 costs about €788 per year. Cut that to 8 hours per day of active gaming plus idle the rest and it drops to roughly €260/year. Sleep mode and turning the PC off when not in use are the biggest levers.
How do I calculate kWh from watts?
Multiply wattage by hours, then divide by 1,000. A 500 W device running for 4 hours uses 500 × 4 ÷ 1,000 = 2 kWh. Multiply by your electricity rate (e.g. €0.30/kWh) to get the cost.
What uses more electricity: an RTX 4090 or a typical fridge?
Peak power, the RTX 4090 wins (450 W vs roughly 100-150 W compressor draw). Annual consumption is the opposite: a fridge runs 24/7 at an average of 40-50 W, adding up to around 400 kWh/year, more than many gaming PCs use when run only a few hours daily.
Does a 1000 W PSU use 1000 W all the time?
No. A PSU is rated for its maximum output capacity; actual draw depends on what the components need. A system with a 1000 W PSU at idle might pull 80 W from the wall, jumping to 400-600 W under gaming load.
How much does an always-on TV or server cost per year?
At 100 W continuous draw and €0.30/kWh, any device running 24/7 costs €263/year. A home NAS at 50 W costs €131/year; a 65-inch OLED TV watched 4 hours/day at 150 W costs about €66/year.
Why is my electricity bill higher than the estimator predicts?
The estimator assumes the wattage you enter is the average over runtime. Real devices spike, idle, and have standby draw. Measure with a cheap wall-socket power meter for the most accurate baseline, then use the estimator to project costs for different usage scenarios.

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