How Long Will It Run

How much does a Nintendo Switch (docked) cost to run?

About 0.47p an hour in the UK and 0.33¢ an hour in the US. A Nintendo Switch (docked) draws about 18 W for as long as it is on. One of the cheapest ways to keep children happy in a blackout.

What it costs, by how long it runs

Average draw at Ofgem price cap, Oct to Dec 2026 and EIA US residential average, June 2026
Running forkWhUKUS
10 minutes0.0030.08p0.06¢
An hour0.0180.47p0.33¢
An 8-hour night0.143.8p2.6¢
A full day (24 hours)0.4311p7.9¢
A month at 8 hours a day4.32£1.1479¢

UK prices use the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 (direct debit, average across England, Scotland and Wales, with no VAT on electricity this winter): 26.32p per kWh (Ofgem). The standing charge of 54.83p a day is paid whatever you run, so it is left out. US prices use the US average residential price for June 2026 from the Energy Information Administration: 18.34¢ per kWh (EIA). Your own tariff is on your bill; scale the figures by it.

Measure your own

These are typical figures for a typical unit. A plug-in energy monitor between the socket and the appliance shows the real watts and adds up the kWh, so after a day or a week you know exactly what it costs on your tariff.

Plug-in energy monitors

Amazon UKAmazon US

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Compared with similar appliances

ApplianceAverage WUK per hourUS per hour
Nintendo Switch (docked)180.47p0.33¢
TV, 32 inch LED451.2p0.83¢
TV, 43 inch LED701.8p1.3¢
TV, 55 inch LED1102.9p2¢
TV, 65 inch LED1503.9p2.8¢
Games console (PS5)2005.3p3.7¢
Projector2506.6p4.6¢

Running it in a power cut

See which power station will run a Nintendo Switch (docked), and for how long.

Appliance draw modelled on web.archive.org. The US Department of Energy retired this page in 2025; the link is the Internet Archive's June 2024 capture. The figures remain typical ranges for a typical unit, not a specification.