Yes, working from home increases your electric bill. For most people, the bump is moderate: household energy consumption rises roughly 7% to 23% on days you work from home compared to days you commute to an office. But the actual dollar amount varies enormously depending on your climate, the age of your home, and what equipment you use. In extreme cases, like older homes in hot climates running air conditioning all day, annual electricity costs can jump by more than $1,100.
How Much More You’ll Actually Pay
The biggest driver of higher bills isn’t your laptop or desk lamp. It’s climate control. When you’re home all day, your heating or cooling system runs during hours it would otherwise be idle or set back. A study of single-family homes in Phoenix found that full-time remote workers in older homes (built before the 1990s) paid $558 to $1,105 more per year in electricity, depending on their utility plan. Newer homes fared somewhat better, with increases of $558 to $912 annually. Those figures reflect a 42% to 70% jump in electricity costs, driven almost entirely by air conditioning in a city where summer temperatures regularly exceed 110°F.
If you live in a mild climate or a well-insulated home, the increase will be far less dramatic. The International Energy Agency estimates that a single day of remote work raises household energy use by 7% to 23%, with the wide range reflecting differences in home size, insulation quality, and local weather. For someone whose monthly electric bill is $150, a 10% increase means roughly $15 more per month, or about $180 a year.
Where the Extra Energy Goes
Your home office equipment is a surprisingly small piece of the puzzle. A laptop running eight hours a day costs about $14 to $33 per year in electricity. Even a full desktop setup with a gaming-grade PC runs $93 to $234 annually at average U.S. electricity rates. The real cost comes from everything else that runs while you’re home: the HVAC system cycling more frequently, lights on in rooms that would otherwise be dark, the refrigerator door opening more often, and kitchen appliances getting midday use.
Research estimates that home office equipment alone adds 0.4 to 1.6 kWh per workday, which translates to roughly 100 to 400 kWh per year. That’s $16 to $64 at the national average rate. Lighting in a home office is negligible with modern LED bulbs. The total net increase in home energy from teleworking has been measured across dozens of studies over several decades, and daily estimates range wildly, from as little as 0.1 kWh to as much as 20.5 kWh per day. That 200-fold range reflects how much climate and home efficiency matter compared to the work itself.
Summer Bills Hit Harder Than Winter
If your home uses electric cooling, summer is when remote work costs the most. The average U.S. household summer electricity bill reached an estimated $776 in 2025, the highest in at least 12 years. Being home all day during those months means your air conditioner runs continuously rather than cycling down while you’re at the office. In hot-climate cities, this single factor accounts for the majority of the annual increase.
Winter costs depend on how you heat your home. If you use natural gas or oil, working from home raises your gas bill rather than your electric bill. If you heat with electricity or a heat pump, expect higher winter electric bills too, though typically less than the summer cooling penalty because thermostats are often set closer to comfortable levels even when you’re away during winter.
The Commute Savings Usually Win
Here’s the number that puts the electric bill increase in perspective: the energy you save by not driving to work is roughly four times larger than the extra energy your home consumes. According to the International Energy Agency, the overall energy balance of remote work is strongly positive. You spend more on electricity but save significantly more on gasoline, vehicle maintenance, and wear. The average American commute costs well over $100 per month in fuel alone, and that doesn’t count parking, tolls, or the slower depreciation on a car that’s driven less.
So while your electric bill goes up, your total household spending on energy and transportation typically goes down. The net savings depend on your commute distance, vehicle efficiency, and local electricity rates, but for most people with a commute of 20 minutes or more, the math favors working from home.
Tax Deductions for Your Home Office
If you’re self-employed or an independent contractor, you can deduct a portion of your utility bills on your taxes. The IRS requires that you use a dedicated space in your home exclusively and regularly as your principal place of business. You can calculate the deduction two ways: the regular method, where you allocate your actual utility costs based on the percentage of your home’s square footage used for work, or the simplified method, which gives you $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet (a maximum $1,500 deduction).
If you’re a W-2 employee working remotely for an employer, you currently cannot claim the home office deduction on your federal taxes, even if your employer requires you to work from home. This is a common point of confusion. The deduction is limited to self-employed individuals and certain partners.
Practical Ways to Lower the Impact
The single most effective step is managing your climate control. A programmable thermostat that adjusts temperatures room by room, or even just closing vents in unused rooms, reduces the cost of heating and cooling an occupied home. If you can tolerate slightly warmer temperatures in summer (78°F instead of 72°F), the savings compound quickly over a full workday.
For your equipment, choosing a laptop over a desktop makes a meaningful difference. Laptops use 30 to 70 watts compared to 200 to 500 watts for a desktop PC. ENERGY STAR-labeled computers use 30% to 65% less energy than standard models. Connecting peripherals like monitors, printers, and chargers to a smart power strip eliminates “vampire” loads, the trickle of electricity devices draw even when turned off or in standby mode. ENERGY STAR estimates that using sleep mode and power management features saves about $30 per year.
ENERGY STAR-labeled office products overall use about half the electricity of standard equipment, with some products saving up to 75%. Switching to LED lighting in your workspace, if you haven’t already, makes home office lighting costs virtually negligible. And turning your monitor off manually when you step away drops its power draw to 1 watt or less.