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German utility provider introduces 'gaming electricity' plan targeting high-consumption households, like those running multiple high-end gaming PCs —

erek

erek

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“Even government agencies have dived onto the gamer marketing bandwagon — the U.S. Army has targeted gamers in its recruitment drives while the FAA’s last hiring campaign focused on gamers and hit 94% of its hiring goal. Even the Royal Navy has recognized gaming as one of the hobbies of its sailors, with its latest ship hosting eight high-end gaming PCsfor LAN parties on the high seas.



While meinGAMING won’t make you a better gamer, it could potentially help you save on electricity costs if you consume a relatively high amount of electricity. As an additional bonus, the company says that its power is 100% sourced from renewable energy, reducing the load on your wallet and conscience as you spend hours in front of your gaming PC. However, how it ensures the power used actually comes from renewable sources remains an open question.“

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/deskto...her-base-price-claims-to-use-renewable-energy
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I find it amusing that they think of gaming as a major contributor to power bills.

Gaming barely registers as a contributor to our electric bill, even when multiple PC's are running at the same time.
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This.
how often I have had people complain "Electricity bill is high, it must be your computers" , no, it is you using the large oven to warm up bread, leaving every light in the house on, doing laundry and using the drier for like 2 things...and lets not get into your hair care devices you use every morning...
 
you guys obviously haven't seen the typical german household.
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Zarathustra[H] said:
I find it amusing that they think of gaming as a major contributor to power bills.

Gaming barely registers as a contributor to our electric bill, even when multiple PC's are running at the same time.
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Well, actually my electricity bill for the month went up by 50% when I was home 3 weeks playing Cyberpunk 2077 when it came out during the holidays.
 
MrGuvernment said:
This.
how often I have had people complain "Electricity bill is high, it must be your computers" , no, it is you using the large oven to warm up bread, leaving every light in the house on, doing laundry and using the drier for like 2 things...and lets not get into your hair care devices you use every morning...
Click to expand...

Biggest drivers for us are (using early August to Early September billing cycle):
1.) Air conditioning ~20%, ~470kWh (In the summer)
2.) Servers & Rack equipment ~16%, ~380kWh
3.) EV Charging ~15%, ~360kWh
4.) Basement Dehumidifier ~8%, ~190 kWh (in the summer)
5.) Two fridges/freezers ~6%, ~150kWh
6.) Clothes dryer ~4.5%, ~110kWh
7.) Pool pump ~4%, ~100kWh

The EV charger (9.6kW) and the clothes dryer (6kW) are by far the biggest loads when on and at full load, but they are off most of the time.

Lights are only a minor contributor for us, even when people leave them on, in large part due to all of them being LED's. Haven't used incandescent bulbs in more than a decade.

As far as computers go, desktops can pull more power, but are also idle or off a lot. The servers pull less power than the desktops do at peak load, but this accumulates to more total power used since they are on 24/7

My desktop at full gaming load can certainly pull a lot of power. I still don't have the new build up, but the old one (Threadripper 3960x + RTX 4090) pulled a peak of ~960w under artificial loads (3d rendering loop + Prime95 small FFT's at the same time) but actual game loads were more modest at 650w-750w at the highest, and I suppose if all you do every day is run games at that power level it can add up, but personally full gaming loads are at the very most ~15 hours a week when I am really into a title, and then there are months in between where there is little to no gaming at all.

2026 has been really light from a gaming perspective. All I've played are some light Sid Meier's Civilization 5 & 6 games and that was over 6 months ago.

Actually 2025 was really light too. Last time I was really into a game was Starfield, and I finished my playthrough of that in December 2023.

Damn, time flies. Feels like I just wrapped that up.

This has - however - largely been due to taking my game capable system down in order to build my new system, and having that project blow up in my face and take way longer than I ever could have imagined. I started that project in January 2025.... Holy crap. I should really finish that, so I can jump back in. I've been looking forward to playing STALKER 2...

Anyway I digress.

From a power perspective - however - the kiddo games almost daily, but he's on a system that is a little bit easier on the power bill than mine (Ryzen 7 9800x3d & RTX 4070 Super)

M76 said:
Well, actually my electricity bill for the month went up by 50% when I was home 3 weeks playing Cyberpunk 2077 when it came out during the holidays.
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I suppose it could spike. When I get into a game to the point where I am maxing out my feasible play time (~15h per week) the math tells me I could probably pull as much as 45kWh in a month, but that is intermittent at best, and even during those high load periods, 45kWh is dwarfed by my almost 2,500 kWh per month peak summer power bill. Even during my off-peak winter power use, it is dwarfed by my ~1850kWh winter power bill. So during the periods I am gaming the most, my gaming uses ~1.8% to ~2.5% of my electric bill...

You must game for WAY more hours than I do, and have a much smaller load from other non-gaming related equipment.
 
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"However, how it ensures the power used actually comes from renewable sources remains an open question."

The answer, of course, is "it doesn't." It's all "offsets". "Some of our electricity comes from solar, and you used some of our generated electricity, so it's like you were using renewable energy."
 
I believe biggest power draw comes from water heaters, the conventional ones, and ovens. You are basically shorting out the power with a low ohm resistor.
 
Just making a excuse to why their power grid is failing and not keeping up. Climate change blah blah blah.
 
are closed said:
I believe biggest power draw comes from water heaters, the conventional ones, and ovens. You are basically shorting out the power with a low ohm resistor.
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Yeah, anything that creates resistive heat is going to have high power draw, at least while it is on. Many devices like that cycle their heating elements on and off based on demand though, so it's not as if they are constantly pulling power at their max.

Electric water heaters, direct electric radiators and space heaters, electric clothes dryers, electric ovens and cooktops, electric kettles, toaster ovens, hair dryers, curling irons, etc. etc. all use gobs of power when actively on and heating, but they are not always pulling at their max load.

A water heater usually cycles on and off heating only when the water needs heat. Ovens will pull at max capacity while the oven is warming up, but then during the extended baking period where heat is maintained, the power use is much lower, as it runs at a lower setting and cycles on and off.

We are lucky enough to have natural gas though, so the stove, oven, water heater and central heat all run on gas. (well, we have both a heat pump and hydronic gas-fired heat, which I balance between based on conditions))
 
M76 said:
Well, actually my electricity bill for the month went up by 50% when I was home 3 weeks playing Cyberpunk 2077 when it came out during the holidays.
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You should play Family Time instead. Less demanding on the PC.

View: https://youtu.be/Hy56ql96xAU?si=gTZgF5OeH7FSjAsi
serpretetsky said:
you guys obviously haven't seen the typical german household.
View attachment 829619
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Where's the house? All I see is a bot farm.
MrGuvernment said:
This.
how often I have had people complain "Electricity bill is high, it must be your computers" , no, it is you using the large oven to warm up bread, leaving every light in the house on, doing laundry and using the drier for like 2 things...and lets not get into your hair care devices you use every morning...
Click to expand...
Same problem here. When the electric bill is high it must be the giant glowing PC. Not the AC and electric heater that pulls 1500 watts of power 24/7. Why 1500 watts? That's the legally required amount a device can pull from a 110V line here in USA. A typical gaming PC will pull something like 300 to 400 watts under full tilt when gaming. Assuming the game is trying to push for unlimited frame rates with no vsync to limit it. Most gamers won't game for more than 3-5 hours per day and assuming they do it everyday. That gaming PC won't pull that much power per month. Maybe if the PC has a 14900K with an RTX 4090 then 600 watts is a real possibility but again that machine isn't running 24/7. Also, in the winter that gaming PC acts as the most efficient electric heater you can buy.

View: https://youtu.be/V-jmSjy2ArM?t=330
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I suppose it could spike. When I get into a game to the point where I am maxing out my feasible play time (~15h per week) the math tells me I could probably pull as much as 45kWh in a month, but that is intermittent at best, and even during those high load periods, 45kWh is dwarfed by my almost 2,500 kWh per month peak summer power bill. Even during my off-peak winter power use, it is dwarfed by my ~1850kWh winter power bill. So during the periods I am gaming the most, my gaming uses ~1.8% to ~2.5% of my electric bill...

You must game for WAY more hours than I do, and have a much smaller load from other non-gaming related equipment.
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Well, believe it or not, I'm classified as a major consumer of electricity by local standards. I have air con, most households don't have any. Plus two fridges and a freezer, two electric water heaters. PC is on at least 12 hours every day, since I'm working from home. TV is also on in the downstairs living room all the time.

The average household consumes 200kWh / month in Hungary. I'm typically around 400kWh. That went up to about 500kWh when I gamed a lot during the holiday. I know that's only 25% extra, but the price is not linear, anything above the average consumption costs extra, like 10x, or something ridiculous like that. Basically "big" consumers subsidize the poor households electricity.
 
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