Energy bills are soaring in the UK, and despite gas and oil companies reporting massive profits, the government isn't willing to either nationalise them as France has or issue a windfall tax to protect vulnerable consumers. Instead, we're here to tell you how much energy and money your consoles eat up over the year, because that's the kind of dystopia we live in now.
The figures come courtesy of Eurogamer, and fortunately, none of the consoles are too expensive. What's most surprising is that the Xbox Series S is a tiny bit more costly to leave on rest mode for the year than the more powerful Series X.
This information has been calculated using a cost of 34 pence per kilowatt (kWh) as that's the price energy has been capped at in the UK - for now. Even when off, all consoles use a small amount of power. In rest mode, the PS5 is the cheapest, at about £9.83 per year. Next is the Nintendo Switch, at £10.40, the Series X at £22.04, and then the Series S at £22.60 per year.
Obviously, you didn't buy a console to just leave it idling for a year, you want to play the thing. Eurogamer found that while playing games, the Switch was by far the cheapest console to run, costing just 0.57p per hour to play Overwatch 2. The Series S costs 2.51p, the Series X 5.60p, and the PS5 7.31p per hour. So, they're all pretty cheap, but overall the Switch is looking like the best money aver, especially as you can play it handheld and then just recharge it when its battery runs low.
Another important metric is Netflix power usage. Many of us watch the streaming service via our home consoles, and with its upcoming serial killer cinematic universe, you may be tempted to binge more than usual. The Series S and X are fairly evenly matched here, at 1.51p and 1.52p per hour respectively. The PS5 is almost double that though, at 2.72p per hour. All things considered, also pretty cheap, especially when you consider doing other things will likely cost money too.
If you want to save money while streaming and have a smart TV, firestick, or Chromecast, all those options will draw less power as you only need the TV on, not your console as well.
So, playing video games on your Switch handheld and streaming movies and TV shows from your smart TV is the cheapest way to still enjoy those luxuries. It's absurd that this advice has to be given to residents living in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, but that's what corporate greed and a government that hates your poor fucking guts lead to. The truth is, saving a few pennies here and there isn't going to help much at all, and people are going to die this winter if the government doesn't step up and put an end to this cost of living crisis once and for all.