Craft & Making
3D Print Electricity Calculator
Enter printer wattage, print hours and electricity rate to see energy cost.
What does print electricity cost?
Electricity for a 3D print is energy (kWh) times your unit rate. Energy ≈ (average watts ÷ 1,000) × print hours. Desktop FDM and resin printers draw far less than a kettle, but multi-hour jobs still show up on a meter. Prefer a measured average draw if you have a plug monitor; otherwise the PSU or heater rating is a conservative ceiling. Filament or resin cost usually dwarfs power — combine this figure with the 3D print cost or resin print cost tools for a fuller job estimate.
Worked example
120 W average for 8 hours → 0.96 kWh. At £0.28/kWh the electricity cost is about £0.27 (roughly £0.03 per hour).
Limits and assumptions
Rated watts are a ceiling. Bed/hotend duty cycles, enclosure heaters and idle time between jobs are not modelled separately.
Frequently asked questions
What is a kWh?
A kilowatt-hour — using 1,000 watts for one hour. It is the unit on most electricity bills.
Should I enter peak or average watts?
Average over the whole job is best. Peak heater draw alone will overstate cost.
Does resin curing UV power count?
If the printer’s UV array runs during the job, include its contribution in the average watts (or time it separately).
Why is power often cheap vs filament?
Long prints at ~100 W still use under 1 kWh in many cases; material and failure reprints usually dominate.