Cost of living: How much does it cost to run a PS5?

With the cost of living increasing at an alarming rate all over the world, you might be looking for ways to save money. Energy bills are set to rise sharply in the UK from October onwards, but rising energy costs are a global issue that are always worthy of discussion. With this in mind, have you ever found yourself wondering: How much does it cost to run a PS5? And, once you've figured that out: Are there ways to save money on energy costs from playing video games? 

You might not have realized it, but it's actually pretty easy to calculate how much using your consoles, desktops, and handhelds cost to run per hour – assuming you know each device's Wh (watts per hour) output. According to the PlayStation Blog, the PS5 disc edition has a power rating of 350Wh at full speed – while running visually-demanding games, such as, say, God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring etc. – with the console's digital edition coming in at 340Wh. 

Knowing this, Sust-It's easy-to-use 'Electricity Cost Calculator' tells us playing PS5 games that require a lot of processing power will set us back 9.8 pence per hour. The calculator measures against the current UK price cap (as of April 2022) at 28 pence per kWh (kilowatts per hour) – with this set to jump to 34 pence per kWh under the new Price Guarantee in October. This means that, if, say, Call of Duty: Warzone has your PS5 running at full tilt, it'll cost you 49 pence for a five-hour session – almost 60 pence (59.5 pence) come October 1, 2022. 

As detailed by Eco Cost Savings, running different modes on your PS5 will, obviously, consume different amounts of electricity. Here's a breakdown of that: 

• In standby mode, with no network connection, the PS5 consumes 1.5W
• When powered off, but still plugged in, the PS5 consumes ~1.3W
• The disc edition of the PS5 console has a 350W power rating (340W), and the maximum consumption recorded when playing games was 203W

Okay, so where does that leave us? Hypothetically, it means that if we were to play a high-demanding game for two hours per day every day in October on PS5, it'll cost us around £1.67 per week / £7.38 per month. This may sound obvious, but if that's an outlay you're willing to vouch for, then for you it's business as usual. This may sound even more obvious, but if you want to save money while playing your PS5, you have two sensible options: firstly, manage your gaming sessions, and consider playing less; and secondly, make sure your console is switched off properly and not left on standby.