Update 01/26/06 @ 8:13 PM: According to the Series2 install guide, a Series 2 TiVo uses 40 watts. Using this information, it costs ~ $14.38 per year to run a TiVo.
((40 watts * 24 hrs per day * 365 days per year) / 1000 ) * .041 kWh rate = ~$14.38 per year
This might sound a like a lot of money but it really isn’t when you compare it to the cost of running a PC 24 hours a day (~$43.13 per year not including the cost of a monitor).
Along with being a super geek, I’m also a bit of a stickler when it comes to energy usage. If I had to classify myself, I would say that I am a cheap-geek 
. I enjoy technology but I’m always looking to save a buck especially when it comes to energy usage. That being said, I came across this article on news.com. The article talks about how we as consumers are using more and more electricity for our techno gadgets.
Being the cheap geek that I am, I thought I would analyze how much it costs to run a TiVo 365 days a year. I found this formula online however, I don’t know how many watts a TiVo consumes. Anybody have an idea?
My 80-Hour Humax TiVo’s specs say 40W, which seems really low, but that’s what it says! http://www.humaxusa.com/products_T800_80.html If I correctly calculated through their formula, that’s right at $50/year. Way less than my desktop computer would cost, which is on 24/7 as well.
[...] I’m such a tight-wad when it comes to certain things. One of my pet peeves is walking through the house and seeing lights and TV’s on in rooms that nobody is using. I recently stumbled on this site, thanks to the TiVoBlog folks, that gives you a formula for figuring out how much it costs to run the various items in your house. Obviously their concern was for their TiVo. [...]
The back-panel rating is very conserative. I’d probably guess that the current draw is 0.1-0.2 amps, more when the system is recording. You’d need to use a time-weighted average, so’d it probably be 0.125 amps, or about 15 watts.
At 8c/kWh, it’s about $10-11 per year.
[...] How much does your Tivo Cost to Run? I found this on the TiVo blog today and found it kind of interesting that it costs $14.38 a year to have my TiVo running all the time. Dosn’t seem like to bad of a deal to me. If you want to get all the info head on over to TiVoBlog.com.Loom001 Published Friday, January 27, 2006 5:19 PM by loom001 [...]
Here’s an email that I received from Brian. I thought I would share it with everybody:
4 cents a KWH? Where do you live? I’m moving there.
.04 kwh is not the true cost. You must add in distribution, tax, etc. Divide your total monthly bill by the total kwh and that will give you a truer cost. In CT, I’m paying about .23 kwh in Dec 2008. My tivo 2 runs at 40 watts all day long, 24×365x.23 is about $80 year. I’m now looking for alternatives.
“”In CT, I’m paying about .23 kwh in Dec 2008.”"
That’s an obscene rate. Here in Wisconsin/Illinois we pay around 6 cents a kwh taxes and all.
Dave
In NYC, my last bill, with service fees and taxes and everything (dividing total bill amount by number of kilowatt hours), I am paying a little over 33 cents per kilowatt (it came down a little bit from last month). That’s $116 per year. Plus the cost of the device. Plus the subscription cost. No thanks.