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Filed under: Running costs
A power adapter's rating is the most it is allowed to draw, not what a router actually uses, and almost every specification sheet stops there. BT publishes the real figure for its Smart Hub 2 anyway — the one router this piece can put a genuine cost on.
A laptop battery holds 53.8 watt-hours, so charging it costs about a penny and a half. A phone should be the easy case and is the impossible one: neither Apple nor Google publishes a figure you can turn into energy.
The energy price cap sets what a kilowatt-hour costs. Manufacturers publish what their devices draw. Put the two together and a games console, a desktop computer and a machine left on overnight all get a price in pounds.