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Router Power Cost Calculator

Work out what leaving a router, modem and switch powered around the clock adds to your electricity bill each month and year.

About Router Power Cost Calculator

Power in watts times hours of operation gives watt-hours; dividing by 1,000 converts to the kilowatt-hours your bill is denominated in. Carbon is estimated at roughly 0.4 kg CO2e per kWh, a mid-range grid intensity. An always-on router looks trivial at 10 W until it is multiplied by 8,760 hours — running cost, not purchase price, dominates the lifetime total.

Formula

Router Power Cost

kWh = watts × hours ÷ 1,000; cost = kWh × tariff

Router and modem power draw
Continuous power draw
tariff
Price paid per kilowatt-hour

Worked example

With the default values below, Router Power Cost Calculator returns Monthly Running Cost of $1.08. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Router and modem power drawminimum 0 W
10 W
Number of devicesminimum 1
1
Hours running per dayaccepts 0–24 h
24 h
Electricity priceminimum 0 per kWh
0.15 per kWh

Results

Monthly Running Cost
$1.08
Annual Running Cost
$13.14
Energy Used per Day
0.240 kWh
Energy Used per Year
87.6 kWh
Estimated CO2e per Year
35.0 kg

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Router Power Cost
  3. 3Monthly Running Cost= 1.08
  4. 4Annual Running Cost= 13.14
  5. 5Energy Used per Day= 0.240 kWh
  6. 6Energy Used per Year= 87.6 kWh
  7. 7Estimated CO2e per Year= 35.0 kg

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Router Power Cost calculated?

kWh = watts × hours ÷ 1,000; cost = kWh × tariff Power in watts times hours of operation gives watt-hours; dividing by 1,000 converts to the kilowatt-hours your bill is denominated in. Carbon is estimated at roughly 0.4 kg CO2e per kWh, a mid-range grid intensity.

Why does Router Power Cost matter?

An always-on router looks trivial at 10 W until it is multiplied by 8,760 hours — running cost, not purchase price, dominates the lifetime total.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 4 inputs: Router and modem power draw, Number of devices, Hours running per day, Electricity price. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

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