I just got a crazy electricity bill of 500 PLN, which is way higher than my usual maximum of 200 PLN. My husband and I are trying to figure out if it's because of our two computers. My setup includes an i5-10600K processor, an AMD Radeon RX 6500XT graphics card, and a 600W power supply, while my husband has an i5 9400F, a GTX 1660 graphics card, and a 750W power supply. During October and November, my computer was on for at least 8 hours daily, running only in the evenings on weekdays and pretty much all day on weekends. Can anyone explain how much power these systems could realistically consume and whether they could contribute to such a steep bill?
3 Answers
Yeah, it's likely your computers contribute to your usage, but they probably aren't the only reason. Do you have any electric heating or high-power appliances running? Even a few hours for an electric shower or oven can spike your bill significantly, especially in winter.
I experienced a similar situation when I started my home lab. My electricity use spiked by 900 kWh a year, so I'll say there’s a good chance your PCs are adding to it, but you might have other culprits too. It’s worth taking a look at everything using power in your home.
First off, check what your cost per kWh is. If you're paying about 1.07 PLN per kWh and running both PCs for around 12 hours a day, that could add up. To give you an idea, if both PCs are using their full power supply capability of about 1350 Watts combined, that would cost roughly 2.11 PLN per hour. So, if they’re running continuously like that, it could easily amount to over 500 PLN a month!
But remember, that's an oversimplified estimate. The actual consumption might be closer to 300 watts each when idle or not under heavy load. You might want to investigate other factors contributing to the bill.
We have gas underfloor heating, so I’m hoping that’s not the issue, but it’s definitely something to think about.