Nowadays, almost every household uses Wi-Fi, and routers often stay powered on 24/7. Some people prefer to switch off their routers before going to bed. This raises a question: if a router runs all night without any devices connected, how much electricity does it actually consume?

Homes use various electrical appliances, and seeing the monthly electricity bill can be quite stressful. Knowing how much power each device consumes can help manage usage and reduce costs.

A typical Wi-Fi router doesn’t consume much electricity. Most routers use between 5 and 20 watts, so their power consumption is relatively low.

For example, if your router uses around 10 watts on average, it would run approximately 24 hours × 30 days = 720 hours in a month. The total electricity consumption would be 10 watts × 720 hours = 7,200 watt-hours or 7.2 kilowatt-hours (units).

If the electricity rate is about 7.50 Taka per unit, then the monthly cost of running the router nonstop would be 7.2 units × 7.50 Taka = 54 Taka. If you turn it off for 12 hours every night, the cost would be roughly half of that, around 27 Taka.

Given the low electricity consumption, whether you switch off your router at night or keep it running won’t make a significant difference in your monthly electricity bill. However, experts advise that frequently turning the router on and off may reduce its lifespan or affect its performance.