Game console and gaming PC electricity cost: play vs standby
Cost per month for playing, sitting in menus and standby, from the power figures Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo publish and your state's average electricity price.
Short answer
Three hours of play a day for a month costs about $3.56 on a PS5 Pro, $2.54 on an Xbox Series X and $0.31 on a Nintendo Switch 2 in TV mode, at the makers' own power figures and the US average electricity price for July 2026. Standby can add more than people expect: an Xbox left in Sleep draws 10 to 15 watts during its active hours, against 0.5 watts fully shut down, according to Microsoft.
Work out your own cost
Three hours of play a day, state by state
The table counts play time only, at each maker's own gaming figure. Menus and standby come on top; the calculator adds them.
| State | Price (¢/kWh) | PS5 Pro | Xbox Series X | Switch 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 16.40 | $3.19 | $2.27 | $0.28 |
| Alaska | 28.83 | $5.61 | $4.00 | $0.49 |
| Arizona | 15.38 | $2.99 | $2.13 | $0.26 |
| Arkansas | 14.33 | $2.79 | $1.99 | $0.25 |
| California | 33.61 | $6.54 | $4.66 | $0.57 |
| Colorado | 17.00 | $3.31 | $2.36 | $0.29 |
| Connecticut | 24.16 | $4.70 | $3.35 | $0.41 |
| Delaware | 18.48 | $3.59 | $2.56 | $0.32 |
| District of Columbia | 25.21 | $4.90 | $3.49 | $0.43 |
| Florida | 15.03 | $2.92 | $2.08 | $0.26 |
| Georgia | 16.27 | $3.16 | $2.26 | $0.28 |
| Hawaii | 48.00 | $9.34 | $6.65 | $0.82 |
| Idaho | 13.73 | $2.67 | $1.90 | $0.23 |
| Illinois | 19.22 | $3.74 | $2.66 | $0.33 |
| Indiana | 16.73 | $3.25 | $2.32 | $0.29 |
| Iowa | 15.99 | $3.11 | $2.22 | $0.27 |
| Kansas | 15.27 | $2.97 | $2.12 | $0.26 |
| Kentucky | 13.81 | $2.69 | $1.91 | $0.24 |
| Louisiana | 12.72 | $2.47 | $1.76 | $0.22 |
| Maine | 32.41 | $6.30 | $4.49 | $0.55 |
| Maryland | 21.41 | $4.16 | $2.97 | $0.37 |
| Massachusetts | 30.49 | $5.93 | $4.23 | $0.52 |
| Michigan | 23.05 | $4.48 | $3.19 | $0.39 |
| Minnesota | 17.45 | $3.39 | $2.42 | $0.30 |
| Mississippi | 14.54 | $2.83 | $2.02 | $0.25 |
| Missouri | 16.09 | $3.13 | $2.23 | $0.28 |
| Montana | 14.99 | $2.92 | $2.08 | $0.26 |
| Nebraska | 13.78 | $2.68 | $1.91 | $0.24 |
| Nevada | 12.77 | $2.48 | $1.77 | $0.22 |
| New Hampshire | 26.60 | $5.17 | $3.69 | $0.45 |
| New Jersey | 25.19 | $4.90 | $3.49 | $0.43 |
| New Mexico | 16.09 | $3.13 | $2.23 | $0.28 |
| New York | 29.90 | $5.82 | $4.14 | $0.51 |
| North Carolina | 15.16 | $2.95 | $2.10 | $0.26 |
| North Dakota | 13.41 | $2.61 | $1.86 | $0.23 |
| Ohio | 19.45 | $3.78 | $2.70 | $0.33 |
| Oklahoma | 14.35 | $2.79 | $1.99 | $0.25 |
| Oregon | 15.97 | $3.11 | $2.21 | $0.27 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.72 | $4.22 | $3.01 | $0.37 |
| Rhode Island | 28.29 | $5.50 | $3.92 | $0.48 |
| South Carolina | 15.47 | $3.01 | $2.14 | $0.26 |
| South Dakota | 15.37 | $2.99 | $2.13 | $0.26 |
| Tennessee | 13.71 | $2.67 | $1.90 | $0.23 |
| Texas | 15.88 | $3.09 | $2.20 | $0.27 |
| Utah | 13.12 | $2.55 | $1.82 | $0.22 |
| Vermont | 23.75 | $4.62 | $3.29 | $0.41 |
| Virginia | 17.55 | $3.41 | $2.43 | $0.30 |
| Washington | 14.71 | $2.86 | $2.04 | $0.25 |
| West Virginia | 15.78 | $3.07 | $2.19 | $0.27 |
| Wisconsin | 19.06 | $3.71 | $2.64 | $0.33 |
| Wyoming | 14.36 | $2.79 | $1.99 | $0.25 |
| US average | 18.31 | $3.56 | $2.54 | $0.31 |
What the makers publish
| Console and mode | Power | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 Pro (CFI-7021), playing PS5 games, 4K | 216.1 W | Sony |
| PS5 Pro, home menu, 4K | 44.6 W | Sony |
| PS5 Pro, rest mode, default setting | 0.3 W | Sony |
| PS5 Pro, rest mode with USB power and internet on | 3.6 W | Sony |
| Xbox Series X, active gameplay | about 154 W | Microsoft |
| Xbox Series S, active gameplay | about 74 W | Microsoft |
| Xbox, Sleep power option during active hours | 10–15 W | Microsoft |
| Xbox, fully shut down | 0.5 W | Microsoft |
| Nintendo Switch 2, TV mode, playing | 19 W | Nintendo |
| Nintendo Switch 2, HOME Menu | 8 W | Nintendo |
| Nintendo Switch 2, sleep mode on Wi-Fi | 0.5 W | Nintendo |
Sony publishes per-mode measurements for each PlayStation 5 model on its UK site, under the UK Games Console Voluntary Agreement. For the PS5 Pro, model CFI-7021, it gives 216.1 watts for the average of three PS5 games at UHD and 0.3 watts in rest mode at the default low-power setting, rising to 3.6 watts with USB power and the internet connection kept on. The page doesn't give separate figures for US models.
Microsoft's figures for the Xbox Series X and S come from its Gaming Sustainability Lab, which says it measures “at the wall socket” across more than 200 titles. It reports about 154 watts for active gameplay on the Series X and 74 watts on the Series S. On standby, Microsoft said in January 2023 that a console with the Sleep power option draws 10 to 15 watts during its active hours and 0.5 watts once it fully shuts down.
Nintendo lists 19 watts for the Switch 2 in TV mode while playing, measured with Mario Kart World, and 8 watts at the HOME Menu, again on its UK site. Nintendo's own estimate of yearly use, at two hours of gaming a day, is 14 kWh.
Example product
The Nintendo Switch 2, photographed in its dock. Shown for reference, not as a recommendation.
How the calculation works
kWh = (play W × play hours + menu W × menu hours + standby W × remaining hours) ÷ 1,000 × days
Worked example for the PS5 Pro at the US average of 18.31 cents: three hours of play a day for 30 days is 19.45 kWh, or $3.56. The Xbox Series X uses 13.86 kWh for the same play, $2.54, and the Switch 2 1.71 kWh, $0.31.
Standby: the setting that matters
For a console that sits idle most of the day, the standby setting can matter more than the hours of play. On the Xbox figures above, 21 hours a day in Sleep at 15 watts adds up to 9.45 kWh over 30 days, or $1.73 at the US average; fully shut down at 0.5 watts it's 0.315 kWh, which rounds to $0.06. Sony's PS5 figures show the same pattern on a smaller scale: rest mode with everything kept on draws twelve times the default.
Sony says PlayStation consoles are set by default to power down after 20 minutes of inactivity, or 240 minutes during media playback, which limits how long a forgotten console stays on at menu power.
Gaming PCs
A gaming PC has no single maker's figure to look up, because its draw depends on the parts inside it. The graphics card is the part with the clearest published number. NVIDIA lists the GeForce RTX 5070 at a total graphics power of 250 watts and the RTX 5070 Ti at 300 watts. It also lists a “required system power” of 650 and 750 watts, but that is a power supply size, based on a PC with a Ryzen 9 9950X processor, not what the PC draws. NVIDIA adds that power requirements “can be different depending on system configuration”.
For a PC, the honest figure is a measured one. A plug-in power meter between the wall and the PC shows what the whole system draws while you play and while it sits at the desktop; type those two readings into the calculator.
What the state price is
The prices are the residential averages in the US Energy Information Administration's Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, for July 2026, marked as preliminary. EIA's next release is due on October 23, 2026.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, July 2026 and 2025, residential column. Data for July 2026, released September 24, 2026; next release October 23, 2026. Read October 1, 2026.
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, Energy Efficiency (PlayStation ecodesign information, UK): PS5 Pro CFI-7021 figures, tested January 31, 2025; auto power-down defaults. Read October 1, 2026.
- Microsoft, Gaming Sustainability Lab Platform Baselines: Xbox Series X and S approximate wattage by in-game area, measured at the wall socket. Read October 1, 2026.
- Xbox Wire (Microsoft), Xbox Is Now the First Carbon Aware Console, January 11, 2023: 0.5 W fully shut down vs. 10-15 W in Sleep during active hours. Read October 1, 2026.
- Nintendo, Nintendo Switch 2 Specifications (UK): power consumption by mode and estimated annual energy use. Read October 1, 2026.
- NVIDIA, GeForce RTX 5070 Family: total graphics power and required system power, with footnote. Read October 1, 2026.
Product photos: manufacturers’ data-sheets via Open Icecat, reduced in size from the originals on October 1, 2026. Database Right data-sheet 2026 Icecat. All rights reserved. Provided “as is”, without warranty.
Changes: first published October 1, 2026.