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Home server electricity cost calculator
A 10 W machine kept on 24 hours a day uses 7.3 kWh a month (87.6 a year). What it costs depends on your tariff: with the CFE (Mexico's state electricity utility) Tarifa 1 rates of October 2026, that is about MXN $8.32 a month if that usage falls in the basic block and about MXN $29.59 if it falls in the excess block. Enter your watts and your price below.
The calculator
This is a cost model using your data and the rates published by CFE (source and date below), not a quote or financial advice. What gets saved stays only in your browser's URL.
Typical consumption by type of machine.
Approximate ranges to give you an idea. They do not come from an official source or from a measurement of ours: idle consumption changes with the model, the drives, the power supply and what runs on it. Measure yours.
| Machine | Typical range (approx.) | Example value |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi or similar (single-board) | 3–10 W | 5 W |
| Low-power mini PC (N100 type) | 6–25 W | 12 W |
| Old laptop (screen off) | 10–40 W | 20 W |
| Desktop PC | 40–150 W | 60 W |
| 4-bay NAS (not counting drives) | 10–30 W | 15 W |
| A spinning hard drive | varies | 5 W (approx.) |
Without JavaScript: kWh by watts (24 hours, all year).
| Watts | kWh per day | kWh per month | kWh per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 W | 0.12 | 3.65 | 43.8 |
| 10 W | 0.24 | 7.3 | 87.6 |
| 15 W | 0.36 | 10.95 | 131.4 |
| 30 W | 0.72 | 21.9 | 262.8 |
| 60 W | 1.44 | 43.8 | 525.6 |
| 100 W | 2.4 | 73 | 876 |
| 150 W | 3.6 | 109.5 | 1,314 |
CFE rates at home.
Residential service from CFE (Mexico's state electricity utility) is split by climate: Tarifa 1 and 1A to 1F, depending on the minimum average temperature your locality reaches in summer. If your average monthly consumption goes over the limit of your tariff, service moves to the DAC (doméstica de alto consumo, the high-consumption residential rate). Each tariff has its own rates, which CFE publishes month by month.
| Tariff | Minimum average summer temp. | High-consumption limit (DAC) |
|---|---|---|
| Tarifa 1 | Localities that do not reach 25 °C | 250 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1A | 25 °C | 300 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1B | 28 °C | 400 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1C | 30 °C | 850 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1D | 31 °C | 1,000 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1E | 32 °C | 2,000 kWh/mes |
| Tarifa 1F | 33 °C | 2,500 kWh/mes |
Source: CFE, Tarifa DAC and tariffs 1A to 1F. Retrieved on October 28, 2026. The limit is measured with the rolling average of the last 12 months. “Do not reach 25 °C” is our reading that Tarifa 1 applies where none of the others does.
Tarifa 1 rates, October 2026.
| Block | kWh it covers per month | MXN $ per kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | First 75 | 1.140 |
| Intermediate | Next 65 (from 76 to 140) | 1.385 |
| Excess | Every additional kWh | 4.054 |
Source: CFE, Tarifa 1, rates for October 2026, retrieved on October 28, 2026. Monthly minimum: the equivalent of 25 kWh. CFE updates the rates every month: confirm the current ones on that page. Your bill may add other charges (for example taxes); for the real price in your home, divide the bill total by the kWh. We do not show rates for tariffs 1A to 1F or for the DAC because we have not verified them.
How to measure the real watts.
- Get a power meter (wattmeter): an adapter that plugs in between the outlet and your machine and shows watts and accumulated kWh.
- Plug the whole server into the meter, with its drives, the UPS and the router if you want to count them together, and let it work as usual.
- Write down two things: the watts at idle (with nobody using it) and the watts under load (for example, while Immich processes photos or Jellyfin transcodes).
- Even better, leave the meter for a day or a week and divide the accumulated kWh by the hours: that gives you your real average, which is the number for this calculator.
Idle consumption varies a lot with the model, the number of drives, the power supply and the power-saving settings. Two machines of the same type can use different amounts, so a range from the internet is only a starting point.
How it is calculated.
kWh = W × horas ÷ 1,000
- Total watts = machine + (drives × watts per drive) + extras (UPS, router).
- kWh per month = total watts × hours per day × (365 ÷ 12) ÷ 1,000. Per year, that number times 12.
- With a fixed price: cost = kWh × MXN per kWh.
- With Tarifa 1 by block: server cost = cost of your home with the server − cost of your home without it. That way it is billed at the rate of the block where the extra usage falls, which can be much higher than the average. We use the monthly blocks from the CFE page.
- Cost per hour = monthly cost ÷ hours on per month.
- Against a subscription: we subtract your electricity cost from what you enter that you pay. It only counts electricity: the machine, the drives, internet and your time are in the other calculator.
Assumptions: constant power during the hours it is on and a constant rate all year; in reality the consumption goes up and down with the load and CFE changes the rates every month.
Frequently asked questions.
- How much does it cost to keep a mini PC on 24 hours a day?It depends on its watts and on your price per kWh. A 10 W machine uses 7.3 kWh a month. With the CFE (Mexico's state electricity utility) Tarifa 1 rates of October 2026, that is about MXN $8.32 if it falls in the basic block (1.140 per kWh) and about MXN $29.59 if it falls in the excess block (4.054 per kWh). For your case, use the calculator with your watts and your consumption.
- How do I calculate the kWh a home server uses?Multiply the watts by the hours it is on and divide by 1,000: kWh = W × hours ÷ 1,000. For example, 15 W for 24 hours is 0.36 kWh a day, about 10.95 kWh a month. Multiply that number by your price per kWh to get pesos.
- How do I measure how many watts my machine uses?With a power meter (wattmeter) that plugs in between the outlet and the machine. Note the watts at idle and under load, or leave it for a full day and divide the accumulated kWh by the hours. Idle consumption changes with the model, the drives and the power supply, so ranges found online are only a guide.
- Which CFE rate applies to me, and what is the DAC?Residential service is Tarifa 1 or one of 1A to 1F, depending on the minimum average summer temperature of your locality (from 25 °C in 1A to 33 °C in 1F). The DAC is the high-consumption rate: it applies when your average monthly consumption over the last 12 months exceeds the limit for your rate, for example 250 kWh a month on Tarifa 1 or 300 on 1A. Your bill says which one you have. See the DAC rate at CFE (in Spanish).
- Is a home server cheaper than a subscription or a VPS?Electricity is only one part: the machine, the drives, the backups, the internet and your time cost money too. To compare electricity alone with what you pay, use this calculator; to see the full cost and the month the machine pays for itself, use the other one. Self-hosting vs subscription.
- Do the UPS and the router add to the consumption?Yes. A UPS draws power even when there is no blackout, and the router or switch you keep on for the server counts too. Measure them together with the server or add them in the extra watts field.
Sources and next steps.
- CFE: Tarifa 1. Rates for October 2026 and monthly minimum. Retrieved on October 28, 2026.
- CFE: Tarifa DAC. High-consumption limits by tariff. Retrieved on October 28, 2026.
- CFE: Tariffs 1A to 1F. Minimum average summer temperature of each tariff. Retrieved on October 28, 2026.
- The watts for the machines are approximate and have no official source; the example values are not measurements of ours.