How Much Does It Cost to Run a Printer (Inkjet or Laser) in Australia? (2026)
Inkjet printers draw 10 to 30 watts while printing. Laser printers spike to 400 to 600 watts to heat the fuser, then drop to a few watts in sleep. Standby draw matters more than printing for most home users.
A typical printer (inkjet or laser) (30 W) costs A$0.010 per hour, or about A$0.16 per month at 0.5 hours a day in Australia. Cheap to run
| Wattage | Per hour | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low 10 W | A$0.003 | A$0.002 | A$0.052 | A$0.64 |
| Typical 30 W | A$0.010 | A$0.005 | A$0.16 | A$1.92 |
| High 600 W | A$0.21 | A$0.10 | A$3.15 | A$38.32 |
Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 0.5 h/day ≈ 5 kWh per year.
One day of a printer (inkjet or laser) (0.72 kWh) is the same electricity as
- 4.0km in an electric car
- 7.2hours of TV
- 16hours of a laptop
- 80hours of an LED bulb
In Australia, with electricity at 35.0¢ per kWh (source: AER Default Market Offer 2026–27, 2026-07), a typical printer (inkjet or laser) costs A$0.010 per hour and about A$1.92 per year at 0.5 hours a day. Each A$1.00 of electricity buys roughly 95.2 hours of use.
How to lower the cost of running a printer (inkjet or laser)
- Enable sleep mode with a short timeout.
- Use a smart plug to cut power entirely overnight if the printer is used rarely.
- Print in batches so a laser printer warms up once.
In standby it draws about 3 W, which adds roughly 26 kWh (A$9.20) per year if it is never unplugged.
Frequently asked questions
Does a printer use a lot of electricity when idle?
Around 2 to 5 watts in sleep, roughly 20 to 40 kWh a year if never switched off.
Is a laser printer more expensive to run than inkjet?
Per page it uses more electricity for the fuser, but ink costs usually dwarf electricity for both.
How much does it cost to print a page?
Electricity is negligible per page. Toner or ink is the real cost.
Cost by region
US states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Canadian provinces
Related appliances
- Computer Monitor30 W typical
- Phone Charger10 W typical
- Cable or Fiber Modem8 W typical
- Home Server or NAS40 W typical
Use the generic electricity cost calculator · Which uses more? Take the quiz