A Raspberry Pi 5 running continuously for 30 days uses 720 hours of electricity, but its monthly cost depends on the complete setup’s average power draw at the wall and your electricity rate. Calculate it as average watts ÷ 1,000 × 720 × price per kWh. At the U.S. 2025 average residential rate of 17.30¢ per kWh, illustrative average draws of 2–10 W would cost about $0.25–$1.25 per month. Those are scenarios, not measured costs for a Pi 5 streaming setup.
Calculate the monthly cost from watts and your tariff
Use this formula for any operating schedule:
Cost = average watts ÷ 1,000 × hours operated × electricity price per kWh
For a 30-day month running 24/7, the system operates for 720 hours. If its average wall draw is W watts, it uses W × 0.72 kWh over that month. Multiply those kWh by the per-kWh rate on your electricity bill.
For example, at 17.30¢/kWh, each continuous watt of average draw costs about 12.46 cents over 30 days. This is calculated from that rate; it is not a separate published electricity statistic.
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Example costs at a U.S. average rate
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an average residential electricity price of 17.30¢/kWh for 2025, in a publication of 2025 data released in 2026. Applying that rate to several possible average wall draws gives these estimates:
| Assumed average wall draw | Energy in 30 days | Cost at 17.30¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| 2 W | 1.44 kWh | $0.25 |
| 4 W | 2.88 kWh | $0.50 |
| 6 W | 4.32 kWh | $0.75 |
| 10 W | 7.20 kWh | $1.25 |
These are arithmetic examples, not independent tests or claims about the draw of a particular Pi 5, video, encoder, or set of accessories. Your result changes in direct proportion to the actual average watts and your local rate. EIA’s 2025 average residential prices ranged from 8.20¢/kWh in North Dakota to 35.72¢/kWh in Hawaii, so the national average is not a household-specific estimate. See EIA’s monthly electricity data for state and customer-sector prices; check the table’s data month and release date when comparing rates.
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Why a Pi 5’s stated power is not its wall cost
Board figures are not a measured streaming setup
Raspberry Pi’s hardware documentation lists a typical bare-board active current of 800 mA and approximate workload power measurements, including H.264 video playback. Multiplying 800 mA by a nominal 5.1 V gives about 4.1 W, but that is only an illustrative DC-side conversion—not a verified wall reading for streaming prerecorded video. It excludes power-supply losses and peripherals. The documentation also cautions that its approximate measurements do not account for added USB devices or HATs, which can raise consumption. See the Raspberry Pi hardware documentation.
A power supply’s rating is capacity, not continuous consumption
Raspberry Pi recommends a 27 W USB-C supply for the Pi 5. That recommendation describes supply capacity; it does not mean the Pi draws 27 W continuously. The suitable supply and cable matter for reliable operation, and attached equipment can change the complete system’s draw. See Raspberry Pi setup guidance and the hardware documentation.
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Streaming compatibility is a separate question
YouTube’s encoder guidance specifies platform settings and supported protocols, codecs, and frame-rate guidance. It does not establish that a particular Pi 5 configuration is tested, certified, or guaranteed to stream a given prerecorded-video workflow. Do not treat encoder requirements as a measured compatibility result. Consult YouTube’s live encoder settings for its current guidance.
Measure your own monthly use
- Measure the complete setup at the wall. Use a plug-in electricity meter over a representative operating period. Include the Pi, power supply, USB storage, cooling fan, HAT, and any other equipment powered as part of the setup.
- Use the meter’s energy reading. If it reports kWh, multiply that value by the number of equivalent operating periods in a month. For a full 30-day month, scale a shorter representative-period reading to 720 hours if the workload and operating pattern are comparable.
- Apply your bill’s rate. Multiply the resulting kWh by your electricity price per kWh. If your bill has time-of-use rates or other charges, use the rate structure that applies to the hours and costs you want to estimate.
Measuring the whole system is more useful than converting a bare-board current figure: Raspberry Pi explicitly notes that additional USB devices and HATs can increase consumption.
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