Xbox energy saver modes could save you up to £5 per month in the UK
If you’re an Xbox owner in the UK or Europe, it might be time to look at which energy mode your console is using. Rising energy costs across the UK and Europe mean the consoles’ Instant On standby mode could cost up to £5 per month next month for many households, as the energy cap on prices jumps a massive 80 percent in the UK alone.
Microsoft offers two power modes on its Xbox consoles. Instant On keeps Xbox One S and Xbox Series S / X consoles in a standby mode that consumes between 11 and 13 watts (depending on the model) and lets players instantly resume games. Energy Saver mode, by comparison, only consumes around 0.5 watts but means you have to fully boot up the Xbox before resuming play.
While Microsoft has made Energy Saver mode the default on Xbox consoles shipped since March, millions of Xbox One S and Xbox Series X / S consoles will be using the more convenient Instant On mode. Over time, this can cost quite a bit. If you keep an Xbox Series X in Instant On standby mode for 24 hours a day, it adds up to around £4.93 worth of monthly energy usage calculated at the upcoming UK price caps (52p per kWh). Thanks go to Alex Hern for highlighting the potential costs of the Xbox’s Instant On mode on Twitter.
Even older Xbox One S consoles consume around 11 watts in Instant On mode, so that’s £4.18 per month, and an Xbox Series S works out to £3.80 per month based on 10 watts of usage in Instant On. Enabling Energy Saver mode on any Xbox console will reduce usage to less than 20p per month. Naturally, using Xbox consoles for streaming movies or playing games has varying rates of energy use, too.
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