Whether you’re in a country with pricey electricity bills, or you just want to reduce your overall spending, or even help to save the environment (every little helps!), you might want to look to your consoles — especially since a prominent British energy company recently called them “vampires” and advised us to turn them off completely.
Whether that’s a fair assessment or not, the fact is that a great many of us are looking to tighten our belts as the global cost-of-living crisis creeps into all aspects of our lives, and any household device that’s constantly plugged into the mains is worth investigating to see what savings can be made.
Do you currently have your console(s) in instant-on mode? Sleep mode? Energy saving mode? Do you know the difference in the first place, or how much each is actually costing you every month? We can help you!
Check out our guide to the efficiency and energy costs of the consoles, and how to reduce the amount of money you’ll be paying each month.
Console Power Consumption Comparison – How Much Power Does My Switch / Xbox / PlayStation Use?
Below you’ll find some vital stats for each Nintendo Switch model currently on sale — plus Sony and Microsoft’s consoles for comparison — and some per-hour and per-week energy estimates based on information from the manufacturers and other sources.
Some notes before we begin:
Nintendo Switch (base model)
Docked
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 7-11W | £0.01 | £0.08 (2h a day) |
| Playing while charging | 15-17W | £0.01 | £0.06 (1h a day) |
| Streaming media | 6W | <£0.01 | £0.02 (1h a day) |
| On the Home menu | 3W | <£0.01 | <£0.01 (1h a week) |
| Sleep mode | 0.3-0.5W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (20h a day) |
| Sleep mode (charging) | 9.8-12.1W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (1h a day) |
| Power off | 0.3-0.5W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (20 hours a day) |
Undocked
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing while charging | 8-9W | £0.03 | £0.06 (2h a day) |
| Sleep mode (charging) | 8-9W | £0.03 | £0.06 (2h a day) |
Average cost per week
- £0.08 (1h a day playtime) — £0.30 (5h a day playtime)
Nintendo Switch Lite
The Switch Lite can’t be docked, so the important consideration is how much power it draws when you’re playing a game and charging.
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 5-7.5W | £0.03 | £0.05 (2h a day) |
| Playing while charging | 7.5-13.5W | £0.05 | £0.05 (1h a day) |
| Sleep mode (charging) | ~13W | £0.05 | £0.09 (2h a day) |
Average cost per week
- £0.10 (1h a day playtime) — £0.30 (5h a day playtime)
Nintendo Switch OLED
Nintendo did not provide energy draw for the OLED when charging, but we can assume it’s more or less similar to the Nintendo Switch base model. These figures are from Nintendo, not a third-party, so take that as you will. We also only have figures for docked mode.
Docked
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 6W | £0.02 | £0.04 (2h a day) |
| Streaming media | 5W | £0.02 | £0.02 (1h a day) |
| On the Home menu | 3W | £0.01 | <£0.01 (1h a week) |
| Sleep mode | 0.3-0.5W (WiFi) 2.2W (wired) |
<£0.01 (WiFi) £0.01 (wired) |
£0.04 (20h a day) £0.16 (20h a day) |
| Power off | 0.3-0.5W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (20h a day) |
Average cost per week
- £0.08 (1h a day playtime) — £0.25 (5h a day playtime)
As a comparison point, here are the costs for the Xbox Series S/X and the PS5 (from Xbox and Sony’s sites):
Xbox Series X
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 153W | £0.08 | £1.09 (2h a day) |
| Streaming | 47W | £0.02 | £0.34 (2h a day) |
| Instant-On mode | 13W | £0.01 | £0.93 (20h a day) |
| Standby | 0.5W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (20h a week) |
Average cost per week
- £1.62 (1h a day playtime/Instant On) — £3.61 (5h a day playtime/Instant On)
Xbox Series S
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 74W | £0.04 | £0.53 (2h a day) |
| Streaming | 31W | £0.02 | £0.22 (2h a day) |
| Instant-On mode | 10W | £0.01 | £0.71 (20h a day) |
| Standby | 0.4W | <£0.01 | £0.03 (20h a day) |
Average cost per week
- £1.08 (1h a day playtime/Instant On) — £2.00 (5h a day playtime/Instant On)
PlayStation 5
| Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playing games | 200W | £0.10 | £1.43 (2h a day) |
| Streaming | 54W | £0.03 | £0.39 (2h a day) |
| Standby | 2W | <£0.01 | £0.14 (20h a day) |
Average cost per week
- £0.87 (1h a day playtime) — £3.71 (5h a day playtime)
Switch / Xbox / PlayStation Quick Comparison Table
Here we’ll just summarise the information above to help illustrate the main comparison points for the ‘flagship’ consoles from the big three manufacturers:
| Console | Usage | Energy Draw | Cost per hour | Cost per week estimates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switch OLED | Playing games | 6W | £0.02 | £0.04 (2h a day) |
| PS5 | Playing games | 200W | £0.10 | £1.43 (2h a day) |
| Xbox Series X | Playing games | 153W | £0.08 | £1.09 (2h a day) |
| Switch OLED | Standby/Sleep | 0.3-0.5W (WiFi) 2.2W (wired) |
<£0.01 (WiFi) £0.01 (wired) |
£0.04 (20h a day) £0.16 (20h a day) |
| PS5 | Standby/Sleep | 2W | <£0.01 | £0.14 (20h a day) |
| Xbox Series X | Standby/Sleep | 0.5W | <£0.01 | £0.04 (20h a week) |
Tips To Reduce Power Draw & Increase Efficiency On The Switch
As you can see (and as you’d expect from the smaller mobile console), Switch is by far the least power hungry of the current console crop when it comes to playing games, and the more modest energy costs to run it — especially compared to the other consoles and more power-intensive household appliances — may come as something of a relief.
Still, every little does help, so here are some tips to make your Switch as power-efficient as possible:
- When possible, charge the Switch in the dock while it’s off, not while playing — it will recharge much faster
- Turn your Switch off rather than putting it in Sleep Mode (though you won’t have access to quick resume or downloads when off)
- If you use wired internet on your OLED, make sure to turn on the “low power consumption” option
- Turn down the brightness
- Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth
- Keep the Joy-Con attached
- Charge your Switch to full before using it in handheld
- Upgrade your Switch to a newer, more efficient model
Realistically, you’re not going to save a massive amount by tweaking your settings and playing less. The most you can save is a few pennies here and there, even with the comparatively demanding OLED with wired internet. You may decide it’s not worth the effort, but it’s useful to know all the same.
However, we highly recommend that you take a look at the energy-saving settings for your Xbox, since the Xbox Series S and X in Instant On mode can draw almost as much as a Switch that’s charging and playing Zelda. Make sure to check out our sister site, Pure Xbox, for all the details.
Likewise with the PS5, reducing your hours and using power-saving options may help reduce those colossal energy bills — if you’ve got all three consoles, you could be forking out almost £5 a week just to have them running in the background!
Do you have any handy tips for combating the energy bill price rise? What do you think about the energy usage of the Switch versus other consoles? Is there anything Nintendo could do to help? Tell us in the comments!
Read More:Switch, Xbox, PS5 Power Consumption Comparison – How Energy-Efficient Is Nintendo Switch?
2022-09-05 17:00:00
