How Much Does Your Home Office Cost in Electricity? (It Is Less Than You Think)
Your laptop, monitor, desk lamp, and phone charger combined use about as much electricity as a single light bulb. But add a space heater and the math changes fast.
Remote workers often worry that working from home is running up their electricity bill. The fear is understandable — you went from using zero electricity at the office to running a computer, monitor, lighting, and climate control for 8-10 hours daily. But the actual numbers for electronics are surprisingly small. The big cost, if there is one, is climate control — and whether that actually adds cost depends on whether you were already heating or cooling an empty house during work hours.
The Electronics Are Cheap
A laptop draws 30-60 watts. A 27-inch external monitor draws 30-50 watts. A desk lamp with an LED bulb draws 8-12 watts. A phone charger draws 5 watts. A WiFi router draws 10 watts. Total: roughly 85-140 watts for a complete home office setup. At $0.16/kWh running 8 hours per day, that is $0.11-0.18 per day, or $3.30-5.40 per month. That is the electricity cost of your entire home office electronics: less than a single fancy coffee per month.
A desktop computer changes the math somewhat — a gaming PC or high-performance workstation draws 200-400 watts under load. At 300 watts for 8 hours: $0.38/day or $11.52/month. Still modest, but three times more than a laptop setup.
The Real Cost: Climate Control
A space heater running 6 hours per day at 1,500 watts costs $1.44/day or $43.20/month. An air conditioner running during summer adds similar or higher costs. This is where the home office bill gets real — not the electronics, but keeping yourself comfortable while using them. The calculation from our electricity cost calculator shows the exact cost for any wattage and runtime.
But here is the counterargument nobody makes: if you have central heating or cooling, your HVAC was already running whether you were home or not (unless you set the thermostat to extreme temperatures while away). Working from home might increase your heating/cooling bill by 10-15% — but you are saving $100-300/month in commuting costs (gas, parking, transit pass, car wear). The net financial impact of working from home is almost always positive.