Switching Xbox to Energy Saver mode can save £60 per year in the UK, it’s claimed

UK players who choose to boot their Xbox consoles in Energy Saver mode can save nearly £60 per year, it’s been calculated.

The Verge notes that if an Xbox Series X console is set to Instant-On mode – which keeps the console in a suspended state and boots up extremely quickly when it’s turned on – it uses up 13 watts of energy.

If the console is set to Energy Saver mode, however, it will instead use up 0.5 watts of energy.

Based on the UK’s upcoming price caps of 52p per kWh, that means the cost of leaving an Xbox Series X on standby will be around £59.16 per year when set to Instant-On mode, compared to £2.40 per year when set to Energy Saver mode.

The initial calculation was provided on Twitter by UK technology editor Alex Hearn, who stated that a Series X on standby set to Instant-On would cost £132 per year.

However, this calculation appeared to be based on the console’s energy usage at launch, which was improved a few weeks later with a firmware update.

https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/1566697498667876355?s=20&t=Eej2p1xR4NZz2t1YZIp-mg

According to The Verge, the real number following that update brings the annual cost of Instant-On to nearer £60 per year.

In March 2022, Microsoft made Energy Saver the default option on all new Xbox consoles, though this means all systems bought before then were set to Instant-On by default and would need to be changed manually.

It also allowed players to download updates in Energy Saver mode, something that was only possible through Instant-On until that point.

Further reading

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Xbox Series X/S consoles will soon boot up faster

Insider test builds of the OS have made the boot-up animation shorter

In July, Xbox Insider members also noted that the latest system update they were testing was causing the console to boot faster.

The console’s boot animation was shortened from nine seconds to four seconds, allowing players using Energy Saver mode to reach their dashboard quicker.