To estimate the electricity cost of an OBS stream, measure or estimate the average power drawn by the computer and the equipment you want to include, then convert its hours of use into kilowatt-hours (kWh). Multiply that energy by the relevant local rate for a rough incremental energy-charge estimate.
That estimate is not necessarily the change you will see in your full household bill. Domestic tariffs and billing rules vary by state, utility, consumer category and consumption level, so use the tariff that applies to your connection rather than a single India-wide rate.
Start with the energy calculation
The useful starting point is energy, not the OBS application itself. OBS does not have one fixed electricity consumption: the computer does the encoding and rendering work, while monitors and other connected equipment add their own draw. A desktop running a demanding scene may draw differently from a laptop playing a simple loop, and the same computer may draw differently at different points in a broadcast.
Use this formula:
Monthly energy (kWh) = average setup power (W) × hours used per month ÷ 1,000.
One electricity unit is one kWh. The Kerala State Council of Educational Research and Training explains the same watts-times-hours conversion in its Class 10 physics text. The division by 1,000 converts watt-hours into kilowatt-hours.
For example, if the complete setup averages 200 W and runs for 150 hours in a month, it uses 30 kWh: 200 × 150 ÷ 1,000. This is an arithmetic example, not a claim that an OBS computer typically draws 200 W. Substitute your own measured or carefully estimated average.
To translate energy into rupees, multiply the resulting kWh by the marginal energy rate relevant to your household, if you only want a rough energy-charge estimate. If your consumption crosses tariff slabs or the bill includes other components, that multiplication is not a complete bill calculation. The distinction matters: calculate the device’s energy first, then interpret what the local bill does with it.
Measure the power of the setup you actually use
First decide what the estimate is meant to cover. A PC-only figure excludes the monitor, speakers and other devices. A desk-setup figure may include one or more screens, audio equipment, capture hardware, network equipment, lights or a separate encoder. There is no single correct boundary, but your answer is only useful if you write down what is inside it.
A plug-in electricity usage monitor that displays watts and accumulated kWh can help measure equipment during representative streaming sessions. For example, Yantram describes its PM10 power meter as showing instantaneous watts and cumulative kWh. Check the chosen meter’s voltage, current, socket and plug ratings for your equipment in India before use. Do not treat a product description as a substitute for checking whether a particular meter is suitable for the load and connection.
If you measure the PC alone, connect only the PC to the meter and note the reading while OBS is doing the work you normally ask it to do. If you want the whole desk total, measure all included devices together only where the meter and electrical arrangement safely support them. If that is not practical, measure devices separately and add their average power readings. Keep equipment that runs continuously, such as a router, in the calculation only if you intend to count it as part of the stream’s cost.
The reading should represent a normal stream, not just a quiet desktop before you start broadcasting. Open the scene, play the source video, use the usual output settings and leave the system in its normal operating state. If the content or scene changes substantially, measure more than one representative period and use a reasonable average. A short reading taken during a brief high-load moment can overstate an entire month; a reading taken while idle can understate it.
If you cannot measure, use the computer or device maker’s power information as a rough ceiling or reference, not as a direct statement of typical draw. A power supply’s rated output, for instance, is not the same thing as the power the computer draws from the wall throughout a stream. The actual value depends on the components and what they are doing. For long-running channels, a measured session is usually more informative than a guessed figure from a component label.
Turn streaming hours into monthly kWh
Once you have average watts, decide how many hours the equipment runs in a month. For a regular schedule, multiply hours per day by streaming days in the month. Then multiply by average watts and divide by 1,000. If the stream runs around the clock, count the hours the equipment is actually on, including time spent reconnecting or waiting, if it remains powered during those periods.
A small worksheet keeps the assumptions visible:
| Input | Your figure | How to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Average power | ___ W | Measured during a representative stream, for the devices included |
| Streaming hours per day | ___ hours | Use the actual schedule, not only the time viewers are watching |
| Streaming days per month | ___ days | Count the days the equipment is powered for the stream |
| Monthly energy | ___ kWh | Watts × daily hours × days ÷ 1,000 |
Suppose a hypothetical setup averages 200 W and runs five hours a day for 30 days. The arithmetic is 200 × 5 × 30 ÷ 1,000 = 30 kWh. That example shows the method only; it does not describe an average OBS setup or recommend a particular runtime.
For a 24/7 schedule, you can enter the total monthly hours directly rather than calculating daily hours. Be consistent about the month length you choose and whether the PC is on for preparation or shutdown after the broadcast. For a quick estimate, a rough monthly schedule is sufficient. For an account-level comparison, record the measured kWh across the same period as your electricity bill.
It can help to keep two estimates if the broadcast computer also serves other purposes. One is the total energy used while the PC is on; the other is the estimated extra energy attributable to streaming. The second is harder to isolate because the system would have drawn some power anyway, even if OBS were closed. You could measure a normal idle or non-streaming session as a comparison, but report the difference as an estimate, not a precise attribution.
Apply the tariff that covers your connection
For a simple incremental energy-charge estimate, multiply the stream’s monthly kWh by the applicable marginal energy rate. “Marginal” means the charge associated with the next unit of electricity in your circumstances, not necessarily a headline rate from a general article or an average from elsewhere. The rate may depend on your consumer category and the consumption slab your household is in.
For the hypothetical 30 kWh example, if the relevant marginal rate were R rupees per kWh, the rough added energy charge would be 30 × R rupees. Keep R as the rate from your current applicable schedule. Do not insert a rate from another state or assume a nationwide household price: the Central Electricity Authority’s tariff and duty publication page describes a process based on orders from State Electricity Regulatory Commissions, which is one reason local schedules matter.
There is a difference between estimating the charge for extra energy and forecasting the revised amount on a bill. If all the extra units fall into one applicable slab and the tariff charges each added unit at that slab’s rate, the multiplication is a useful approximation. Where the tariff uses blocks, tiered rates or other rules, the right calculation is to apply those rules to the household’s consumption with and without the stream load. Your bill’s existing usage therefore matters.
Some homes may have a tariff arrangement, subsidy or adjustment that changes the effective amount paid. Do not infer those details from a neighbour’s bill: connections in the same area can differ by category, eligible benefits or the applicable schedule. If you only need to decide whether a PC-only estimate is in the right order of magnitude, the energy-charge calculation may be enough. If you need the likely household bill impact, work through the current bill and tariff structure.
Slabs, fixed charges and other bill components
A household bill can contain more than an energy charge. Depending on the local schedule and the connection, it may include fixed charges, duties, taxes, subsidies or other adjustments. Some of these may not change when you add a small amount of stream energy; others may depend on consumption, category or the billing period. Avoid adding a generic percentage or fixed fee unless the applicable official schedule says it applies to your account.
Slab rates are especially important when estimating an incremental change. Consider a household already near the boundary between two consumption blocks. The stream’s added units may fall partly into one block and partly into the next, rather than all being charged at a single low rate. To model this, calculate the billable consumption under the tariff for the household’s normal usage, then repeat after adding the stream kWh. The difference between those energy charges is more informative than multiplying all added units by the first listed rate.
A fixed charge may be based on a connection or sanctioned load rather than the energy used by OBS. If it remains unchanged, it is part of the full bill but not necessarily an incremental stream cost. Conversely, where a tariff rule makes another charge depend on consumption or load, that may affect the difference. The schedule and your bill are the evidence; do not assume that every line moves in proportion to kWh.
The official Lakshadweep domestic tariff schedule illustrates the point: it lists energy charges by consumption slab and also shows fixed charges. Its figures apply to that territory and schedule, not to households across India. The Central Electricity Authority’s March 2026 tariff publication is another source for understanding how state tariff orders and related information are assembled; for a household estimate, check the current order and bill that apply to your connection.
Find your state and utility’s current schedule
Start with the utility name and consumer category shown on your electricity bill. Then use the distribution company’s official website or the relevant State Electricity Regulatory Commission’s tariff order to find the domestic schedule in force for your billing period. Check the schedule’s effective period, slab definitions, fixed charges and any notes about duties, subsidy or other adjustments. If you are unsure which category applies, use the category printed on your bill or ask the utility rather than choosing the closest-sounding one.
The CEA’s annual publication can help you see that tariffs are based on state-level orders, but it is not a replacement for the applicable order or bill. A state may have more than one distribution licensee, and a tariff can distinguish among categories or locations. A result labelled “domestic rate” is not enough on its own if the document also defines slabs or conditions.
Keep a copy or note the relevant schedule when you calculate. Record the billing period, category, units already consumed and the rate structure. If the official page offers a bill calculator, check its inputs and compare its result with the bill rather than assuming it models the extra stream load exactly. For a future bill, your household’s other use will change too, so present any estimate as an estimate rather than a promised rupee amount.
The CEA’s Financial Studies & Analysis Division page is useful for locating its tariff publication and understanding its scope. For the actual number in your calculation, follow the trail to the local utility or regulator’s current material. This is more work than borrowing a rate from a national overview, but it prevents a tidy calculation from being based on the wrong tariff.
Build a useful estimate for your own stream
Write the estimate in three parts: equipment scope, monthly kWh and tariff assumption. For example: “PC and one monitor, measured at an average of ___ W during a normal broadcast; ___ hours over the billing month; ___ kWh; energy charge estimated using the applicable marginal domestic rate shown on my utility’s schedule.” This makes it possible to update the answer when you change the PC, add a monitor or revise the schedule.
If you have several days of measurements, calculate energy from the meter’s accumulated kWh where possible. Divide by the measured hours to derive an average load, or use the accumulated kWh directly if the monitored period resembles your normal month. Direct kWh readings can be more reliable than multiplying a single instantaneous watt reading by every hour, because equipment draw can vary as scenes, encoding workload and peripherals change.
Compare a PC-only result with a complete desk result if you want to understand what is driving the cost. If the monitor and speakers add little relative to a continuously running computer, you will see that in the measured total rather than relying on a generic claim. If the complete setup is difficult to measure together, add separate readings while keeping the time period and operating state comparable.
Then decide which question you are answering. “What is the energy charge for this equipment?” calls for kWh times an appropriate marginal rate, with the slab caveat. “How much more will my full household bill be?” calls for the local tariff applied to the household’s consumption before and after adding the stream use, plus any bill components that actually change. The second question cannot be answered exactly without the household’s usage and applicable billing rules.
There is also an operational choice behind the electricity figure. If your stream only needs OBS while your computer is already on for other work, the relevant extra draw may be modest compared with a dedicated machine left running. If the PC must remain on overnight solely to keep a recorded stream live, you are estimating the cost of keeping that machine and the chosen peripherals powered, not a fee charged by OBS.
For someone who wants a prerecorded video to continue on YouTube while the home computer is off, a cloud-run approach changes which local equipment needs to remain powered; StreamNeo addresses that specific always-on-computer burden by turning an uploaded file into a YouTube live stream without requiring your own computer to keep running. If you are keeping OBS on your own machine, the electricity method remains the same, and you should measure the devices you actually leave on. Readers comparing local OBS with other looping methods can also refer to OBS and FFmpeg for looping videos on YouTube Live, or the India-focused OBS guide for 24/7 YouTube video streams.
Work through an example with your inputs
Use this sequence rather than starting with a rupee total:
- List the devices included, such as the PC and monitor, and decide whether the router or lights belong in the estimate.
- Measure their average streaming power in watts, or measure accumulated kWh over a representative period.
- Multiply average watts by monthly hours and divide by 1,000, or scale a representative measured kWh reading to the intended schedule.
- Find the current domestic schedule for your utility and category, then identify the relevant slab and charges.
- Calculate an energy-charge estimate; for a full bill change, compare tariff calculations with and without the stream’s kWh.
As a check, if you calculate 30 kWh but the power meter accumulated 31 kWh over a comparable period, revisit whether the assumed watts or hours were too low. Small differences can come from rounding or variation in what the computer was doing. A much larger mismatch usually points to a scope difference, such as one result including a monitor or longer operating hours.
Keep the result rounded sensibly. Your measurements and billing assumptions are estimates, so writing a rupee figure with unnecessary decimal places suggests precision you do not have. Keep the underlying kWh and tariff source in your notes so you can revise the calculation when the utility changes the schedule or your streaming routine changes.
For the streaming side of the setup, the guide to setting up FFmpeg to loop videos on YouTube Live in India explains an alternative workflow, while the guide to streaming a Telugu podcast archive continuously is relevant if your content is an audio-led archive. Those pages can help you assess the broadcast method; they do not determine your electricity rate, which still comes from your own utility’s tariff.
When the cost estimate and broadcast method are clear, choose the operating arrangement that fits your schedule and equipment.
Before committing, compare the operating options on the pricing page. When the file and channel are ready, start free — 24-hour trial, no card.
FAQ
How much electricity does a PC use while streaming on OBS?
There is no universal OBS wattage. The PC’s actual draw depends on its hardware and workload, so measure it during a representative stream or use a clearly labelled estimate based on your own equipment. Include a monitor or other devices only if you want their use counted too.
How do I calculate the monthly electricity cost?
Multiply average setup watts by the monthly hours of use and divide by 1,000 to get kWh. Multiply that energy by the applicable marginal rate for a rough added energy-charge estimate. For the likely change to your full bill, apply the local slab and billing rules to your household’s consumption before and after adding the stream energy.
Can I use one electricity rate for all of India?
No. Domestic tariffs depend on the applicable state or territory, utility, consumer category and billing structure. Use the current official schedule for the connection shown on your bill; do not treat a rate from another area as your own.
Does the kWh calculation tell me exactly how much my bill will rise?
No. It estimates energy use, and a simple rate multiplication estimates an energy charge under its assumptions. Slabs, fixed charges, subsidies, duties and other adjustments can affect the full bill, so the household’s existing use and local rules matter.