Electricity cost

PC electricity cost calculator.

Calculate how much your PC costs per month in electricity. Select your country to apply the local rate or enter a custom kWh price.

Common PC Configurations

Power Consumption

350W

10 W1000 W2000 W

Daily Usage

1h12h24h

Electricity Rate

Select your country

Manual kWh rate

/ kWh

Estimated Monthly Cost

$15.12 USD

per month

usUnited States · $0.18/kWh

kWh / Month

2.8 kWh/day

Cost / Day

$0.504 USD

8h × 350W

kWh / Year

1022

kilowatt-hours

Cost / Year

$183.96 USD

annual estimate

Efficient

Good energy efficiency. A Gold or Platinum certified PSU will reduce this cost further.

Get an efficient 80+ Gold PSU · Amazon

Formula: (W ÷ 1000) × h/day × 30 days × rate/kWh

How to get an accurate running cost

The arithmetic is simple; the inputs are where estimates go wrong. Here is how to choose the wattage and the rate, examples using the calculator's own presets, and what changes the bill the most.

What the calculator does

It turns watts into kilowatt-hours and multiplies by your rate: watts ÷ 1,000 × hours per day × 30 × price per kWh for the month, and the same over 365 days for the year. A 350 W machine used four hours a day uses 1.4 kWh a day, 42 kWh a month and 511 kWh a year.

Which wattage to enter

Not the number on the power supply. A 1,000 W supply in a machine that draws 400 W costs the same to run as a 650 W one. Enter what the machine draws, averaged over the time it is on.

If you know your parts, the power supply calculator gives the system draw under full load. That is a ceiling: a game rarely keeps every part at its limit, so for gaming hours a figure somewhat below it is closer to reality.
If you do not, the presets are reasonable starting points: an office PC at 120 W, a mid-range gaming PC at 350 W, a high-end one at 550 W and a workstation at 800 W.
If your use is mixed, average it. Three hours of gaming at 350 W plus five hours of office work at 120 W is 1.05 + 0.6 = 1.65 kWh a day — the same as entering about 206 W for 8 hours.
If you have a plug-in power meter, use it for a typical day. Nothing beats a measurement.

Which rate to enter

Choosing a country fills in a reference residential rate, and it is only a starting point. The reference rates span a wide range — about 0.11 per kWh for Mexico, 0.18 for the United States, 0.25 for Spain and 0.40 for Germany and the United Kingdom — and your own tariff can sit well away from your country's average. For the most accurate figure, divide the total on a recent bill, taxes and fixed charges included, by the kWh it lists, and type that in as a manual rate.

Examples with the presets

Mid-range gaming, 4 hours a day (350 W, 42 kWh a month): about 4.62 a month at the Mexican reference rate, 7.56 at the US one, 10.50 at the Spanish one and 16.80 at the German one. The same machine costs more than three times as much to run in one country as in another.
High-end gaming, 4 hours a day (550 W, 66 kWh): about 11.88 a month at 0.18 and 26.40 at 0.40.
Workstation, 8 hours a day (800 W, 192 kWh): about 34.56 a month at 0.18 — over 400 a year, which is worth knowing before choosing between two processors with very different power draw.
A machine left running a local AI model around the clock (600 W, 24 hours, 432 kWh): about 77.76 a month at 0.18 and 172.80 at 0.40. At that point, the buy vs rent calculator is worth a look: renting a cloud GPU only for the hours you need it can be cheaper than the electricity alone.

What actually lowers the bill

Hours matter as much as watts, so the cheapest saving is a machine that sleeps when you walk away from it. After that, a frame-rate cap stops the graphics card rendering frames your monitor never shows, and a modest power limit or undervolt on the card usually costs a few percent of performance for a much larger cut in draw. A more efficient power supply helps least of all: the step from 80 PLUS Bronze to Gold is a few percent of the bill. The formula and its limits are also on the methodology page.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to run a gaming PC?

Multiply the average draw in kilowatts by the hours you use it and by your rate. A machine pulling 400 W for four hours a day uses about 48 kWh a month — a modest sum in most places, and one that grows quickly with heavy use and a high tariff.

Does idle time cost more than gaming?

Often, yes, and it surprises people. A machine left on at 60 W for twenty hours a day uses more electricity than four hours of gaming at 400 W. Hours matter as much as watts, which is why sleep settings are the easiest saving available.

Does a higher-wattage power supply raise my bill?

No. The rating is a ceiling, not a consumption figure. What you pay for is what the components draw, plus the small amount the supply itself loses as heat — and a lightly loaded unit tends to lose slightly less of it.

What actually lowers the bill?

In order of effect: fewer idle hours, a power limit or undervolt on the graphics card (a 10% cap typically costs a few percent of performance), a frame-rate cap so the card stops rendering frames the monitor never shows, and finally an efficient power supply.

Which tariff should I enter?

The full per-kilowatt-hour figure from your bill, including standing charges and taxes divided across your usage — not the headline rate. If you are on a time-of-use plan, enter the band you actually play in, which for most people is the expensive evening one.