How much does it cost to run a phone charger?
We've pre-filled a typical phone charger below. Set your electricity rate and adjust the hours to match how you use yours — the cost updates instantly.
A phone charger is about as close to free as anything you own that plugs into a wall. Most bricks draw just 5 watts while they're actually pushing current into a battery — a hundredth of what a space heater pulls — and once the phone hits 100% many chargers drop to a trickle or cut off entirely, so you're rarely paying for a full charge's worth of watts anyway.
Leave it charging overnight for eight hours instead of the roughly one hour a full charge actually takes, and the math barely moves — you're talking fractions of a cent either way. The one thing that actually costs something is a charger left plugged into the wall with nothing attached: it still sips a trickle of power around the clock, and multiplied across every outlet in the house over a year, that adds up far more than any charging session ever will.
What drives the cost of running a phone charger
- It draws only 2-20W while actively charging — a rounding error next to almost anything else in the house with a plug.
- Most phones stop pulling real power once the battery hits 100%, so "charging all night" costs almost the same as charging for the ~1-2 hours a full charge actually needs.
- The charger itself, not the phone, sets the draw — a fast/USB-C charger can peak higher than a basic 5W brick, but for a much shorter window, so the total energy used barely changes.
How to cut it
- Don't bother unplugging mid-charge or buying a "smart" charger to save power — the difference is a fraction of a cent, not worth the hassle.
- Charging faster (a higher-wattage fast charger) doesn't cost more overall — it draws more watts but for far fewer minutes, so the total energy is nearly the same.
- Unplug chargers you're not using — an idle brick still pulls a trickle of standby power, and across a whole house of outlets that's the actual line item, not the charging itself.
- Skip buying a "low-power" or eco-branded charger — at 5W, there's no meaningful efficiency gain left to capture.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a phone charger per month?
At a typical 5W and about 3 hours a day, a phone charger costs roughly $0.08 a month at $0.17/kWh. Set your own rate and hours above for an exact figure.
How can I cut the cost of running a phone charger?
Don't bother unplugging mid-charge or buying a "smart" charger to save power — the difference is a fraction of a cent, not worth the hassle.
Does leaving my phone charger plugged in (with nothing attached) cost anything?
A little — an idle charger still draws a trickle of standby power, typically 0.1 to 0.5 watts, around the clock. It's a tiny amount per charger, but with several chargers left plugged in across a house year-round, that standby draw can add up to more than the actual charging ever does.
Does a fast charger cost more to run than a regular one?
Barely. A fast charger draws more watts, but only for the short window it takes to top up the battery, so the total energy (and cost) per full charge ends up close to the same as a slower charger left plugged in longer.
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