Households with games consoles face £15.48 charges from April 1 | Personal Finance | Finance
Games consoles could be costing households in the UK around £15 a year from the start of next month, our calculations suggest. From April 1, people in England, Wales, and Scotland on a standard variable tariff, and who pay for their electricity via Direct Debit, will pay 24.67p per kilowatt hour (kWh) on average.
That’s a 7%-reduction on the current price cap of 27.69p per kWh, with Ofgem saying the main cause of the drop is government budget interventions. That means your electricity bills will soon be cheaper, but your appliances will still be racking up surprisingly large sums over the year. Since game consoles hit the mass market in the 1970s, video gaming has become a multi-billion-pound industry.
Tens of millions of households have a console, and gaming has become a popular form of entertainment across demographics.
They don’t come cheap, with most models ranging from around £240 for the original Nintendo Switch console up to £730 for the PlayStation 5 Pro.
But given how widely they’re used these days, it’s also worth factoring in how they can affect your energy bill.
Consumer research for Q4 2024, published early last year by digital intelligence platform MIDiA, found that console gamers spend 10 hours gaming per week on average. That’s the equivalent of 1 hour and 26 minutes per day.
The figure is based on respondents from various countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, and Brazil.
And while habits will differ between nations, it gives us a rough idea of how much people are playing, and how much consoles add to electricity bills over the course of a year.
Citizens Advice‘s cost calculator reveals that, based on that level of usage, your games console might be adding £17.40 to your energy bill over 12 months under the current cap (27.69p per kWh).
That means it’s currently setting you back around 5p per day, 33p per week, and £1.45 if you’re using it for an hour and 26 minutes per day.
From April 1 when the cap comes down costs over 12 months will drop to around £15.48 per year for that playtime, the calculator suggests. That’s the equivalent of 4p per day, 30p per week, or £1.29 per month.
That’s assuming that the console is in active use, but it will cost more if they’re on standby, charging your controller.
The estimate is for England, Scotland, and Wales, and Citizens Advice notes that it’s calculated using “the rate you pay for electricity or the national average rate and the amount of electricity each appliance uses”.
Actual usage will depend on how much you use your console and vary between devices.
Additionally, while the estimates give you an illustrative sense of the costs the cap represents over a longer period, the maximum limit on unit rates and standard charges is reviewed by the regulator every 3 months and doesn’t remain in place for a full year.
Meanwhile, the standing charge will rise slightly from its current 54.75p level to 57.21p per day. The April 1 price cap will apply until June 30, with the next cap level announced on May 27.
