How to calculate mining electricity cost
Electricity cost is wall energy multiplied by your electricity rate. A break-even rate asks how much each kilowatt-hour can cost before the scenario's adjusted mining revenue is used up.
1. Measure the whole system
Use a suitable wall meter to measure the mining computer under the actual algorithm and power settings. A GPU software reading can omit the CPU, fans, power-supply losses and other equipment. Do not assume one algorithm's watts apply to another.
Daily energy: wall watts ÷ 1,000 × operating hours = kWh per day.
2. Use a matching output estimate
Enter a gross coin-per-24-hour estimate for the same hardware, algorithm and settings, then a price per coin. A market quote supplies a price, not your rig's output, a guaranteed sale price or a promise that the coin is supported by a pool.
The worksheet scales a 24-hour output estimate by hours/24. If an estimate already describes a shorter operating day, use 24 hours with that smaller daily amount so you do not scale it twice.
3. Account for fees and rejected work once
For a simplified scenario, multiply gross revenue by (1 − rejected/stale-share fraction) and (1 − pool-fee fraction). If the source estimate already includes either adjustment, enter zero for that item in the worksheet. Actual payout methods can differ.
4. Reproduce a worked example
Assume a computer uses 200 W for 24 hours and its gross daily coin estimate is worth $1.00. A 1% pool fee and 2% rejected/stale adjustment leave $0.9702. Energy is 4.8 kWh. Break-even electricity is $0.9702 ÷ 4.8 = about $0.2021/kWh. At $0.25/kWh, electricity is $1.20 and the scenario loses about $0.23 per day.
Every example input is hypothetical. None is a current GPU benchmark, live RVN observation or expected customer return.
What the result leaves out
Hardware purchases, cooling, taxes, downtime, price movement, reward maturity, exchange costs and difficulty changes can change the outcome. A positive operating scenario is not a forecast of investment profit. Compare several input cases instead of treating one quote as a prediction.
Sources and scope
U.S. EIA: watts and kilowatt-hours explains the power/energy units. Market prices are attributed separately in the tool; CoinGecko documentation does not supply hardware-specific mining output.