{"id":118404,"date":"2026-03-19T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=118404"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:50:20","slug":"uk-households-game-consoles-pay-15-48-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/uk-households-game-consoles-pay-15-48-more\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Households with Game Consoles to Pay \u00a315.48 More Starting April 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The energy price cap is falling on April 1, bringing a small but welcome reduction to the cost of everyday appliances, including the games consoles now found in tens of millions of British homes. For the average gamer, that translates to an annual bill of around \u00a315.48, down from \u00a317.40 under the current cap, according to calculations using the Citizens Advice cost calculator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaming has long since moved beyond a niche hobby. From teenagers to retirees, consoles have become a mainstream entertainment fixture, with devices ranging in price from roughly \u00a3240 for the original Nintendo Switch to \u00a3730 for the PlayStation 5 Pro. As households look for ways to manage energy costs, understanding what these devices actually cost to run is becoming an increasingly practical concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the New Cap Means for Gamers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From April 1, households in England, Wales, and Scotland on a standard variable tariff paying by Direct Debit will see their electricity rate drop to 24.67p<\/strong> per kilowatt hou, a 7% reduction from the current rate of 27.69p <\/strong>per kWh. Ofgem has attributed the primary cause of that decline to government budget interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using consumer research <\/a>published by digital intelligence platform MIDiA for Q4 2024, which found that console gamers play an average of 10 hours per week, roughly one hour and 26 minutes per day, it’s possible to estimate what that habit costs over a year. Under the current cap, that level of use works out to approximately 5p per day, 33p per week, and \u00a31.45 per month. After April 1, those figures fall modestly to 4p per day, 30p per week, and \u00a31.29 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MIDiA research drew on respondents from multiple countries including the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, and South Korea, meaning individual habits will naturally vary, but it provides a reasonable baseline for estimation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Full Picture: Standby Costs and Standing Charges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There’s a catch, however. The \u00a315.48<\/strong> annual figure applies only when the console is in active use. Leaving a device on standby<\/strong>, for instance, while it charges a controller overnight, will push costs higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The standing charge, meanwhile, is actually set to increase slightly. According to Ofgem’s updated cap structure, the daily standing charge will rise from 54.75p<\/strong> to 57.21p<\/strong> from April 1. That’s a small uptick, but one that affects every household regardless of consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizens Advice<\/em> notes that its estimates are calculated using \u201cthe rate you pay for electricity or the national average rate and the amount of electricity each appliance <\/a>uses<\/em>.” The April 1 cap will remain in effect until June 30, with the next review announced on May 27, a reminder that these figures represent a snapshot rather than a fixed annual reality, as the regulator reassesses the cap every three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most households, the savings on console gaming will be modest. But in a climate of sustained cost-of-living pressure, every penny counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Millions of UK households plug in their consoles every day without a second thought, but the hidden cost quietly building on your energy bill tells a very different story, and what’s changing on April 1 might genuinely surprise you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":118405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118404"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118416,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118404\/revisions\/118416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}