this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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I am trying to capture costs for starting into homelab/selfhosting.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

$50/year electrical bill for a Pi?!

Nevermind, I just did some back of the napkin math and came out around 35 a year if I was running one full power 24/7, so yeah, that is the right ballpark guess for a maximum.

[–] SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zone 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, same. Though at 3-5W ... it really is just a very rough guess. Lemme ShitGPT it. Oh, I was way off


A realistic Pi 4B-only estimate is about A$8–A$12 per year in electricity, assuming it is on 24/7 and used for Jellyfin streaming around 10–12 hours per week.

Pi 4B measurements are typically around 2.7–2.85 W at idle, about 5.1 W under moderate server load, and around 6.4 W under full CPU stress. Using Perth/WA’s Synergy Home Plan A1 energy charge of 32.3719 c/kWh, excluding the daily supply charge, that works out very cheaply because the device uses only about 25–36 kWh/year.

Scenario Assumed usage Annual energy Approx. annual cost

Mostly idle 3 W 24/7 26.3 kWh A$8.51/year Idle + 12h/wk Jellyfin 2.7 W idle, 5.1 W streaming 25.1 kWh A$8.14/year Heavier Jellyfin/server use 2.7 W idle, 6.4 W streaming 26.0 kWh A$8.40/year Conservative wall-power estimate 4 W idle, 6.4 W streaming 36.5 kWh A$11.83/year

The bigger swing factor is storage, not the Pi. A USB SSD adds very little; a USB-powered 2.5" hard drive might add a few dollars per year; a powered 3.5" external drive left spinning 24/7 could push the total more into the A$15–A$30/year range.

So, for the Raspberry Pi 4B itself as a Jellyfin box: roughly A$10/year is a good mental estimate.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I went off the power supply maximum output. 5.1 volts, 3 amps, so 15 watts per hour. 24hrs per day, 365 days a year, so 131,400 watt-hours, or 131kilowatt-hours. My electricity is about $0.25/kwh (advertised at 0.09/kwh, but when you add on bullshit fees, the final rate is much higher), so I came up with $32.85 as the maximum amount any device connected to that power supply could cost.

[–] SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zone 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Yep. But that would be 100% CPU, 100% of the time? Real life, it's probably closer to 2w idle and maybe 5-7W under typical load.

More interesting...I think that technically means you could make a "UPS" for it using what...4xAA batteries?

Oh man...that would be cool. Stupid but cool.