How Much Does It Cost to Run a Starlink Dish?
Short answer: about $0.25 a day and $7.47 a month, or $0.010 for each hour it runs at full power, at the 2025 US average electricity rate. That is for a 60 W starlink dish running 24 hours a day with a 100% duty cycle. Change the state and hours below for your own number.
Updated Nov 8, 2026
Quick answer
Quick answer, US average (17.3 c/kWh)
About $7.47 a month
The same use costs $5.10 a month in North Dakota and $17.53 in Hawaii.
- Per hour
- $0.010
- at 60 W
- Per day
- $0.25
- 24 h, 1.44 kWh
- Per month
- $7.47
- 30 days
- Per year
- $90.93
- 365 days at the same use
Your state, your hours
Per hour
$0.010
Per day
$0.25
Per month
$7.47
Per year
$90.93
Starlink Dish at 60 W, 24 h a day, 30 days a month, 100% duty cycle: 43.2 kWh a month. Using the 2025 US average of 17.3 cents/kWh.
Want to change the watts or duty cycle too? Open the full calculator.
What decides the cost of running a starlink dish
A Starlink dish uses far more power than a cable modem because it is a phased-array radio talking to satellites moving overhead, and it never stops tracking them. The default on this page is 60 W around the clock, 1.44 kWh a day, which sits between the two current residential kits. Starlink's own specification sheets list average power consumption of 75 to 100 W for the Standard kit and 25 to 40 W for the Mini. If you have a Standard dish, set the calculator to about 85 W. For a Mini, use about 30 W. Older dishes vary, so a plug-in meter on the power supply gives your real figure.
Weather moves the number. Snow melt mode heats the dish face, and during a storm consumption rises well above the average while it keeps the surface clear. Heavy rain and obstructions make the dish work harder to hold a link but change the draw much less than snow does. In a cold climate, expect winter months to cost noticeably more than summer ones.
The Starlink app has a sleep schedule that powers the dish down for a set window each day, which is the only real lever on cost besides the hardware itself. Eight hours of sleep removes up to 0.48 kWh a day, about $2.49 a month at the national average rate, at the price of no internet during those hours. For a cabin or RV that only needs a connection part of the day, it makes a large difference to how much battery and solar you need.
That is the reason most people look up Starlink's power draw. Off grid or on battery backup, 60 W around the clock is 1,440 Wh a day, more than a small power station holds. The Mini is far easier to power from a battery. Its spec sheet lists a 12 to 48 V DC input, and it can run from a USB-C power delivery port rated at least 100 W (20 V, 5 A) using Starlink's USB-C to barrel jack cable.
How to cut it
- Set a sleep schedule in the Starlink app for hours you never use the internet.
- Use snow melt only when you need it in an off-grid setup, since it raises consumption well above average.
- For a cabin, RV or van, the Mini draws roughly a third of the Standard dish.
- On battery power, run the Mini from a 100 W USB-C power delivery port with Starlink's adapter cable to skip the inverter loss.
Starlink Dish cost by state
Monthly cost for 60 W, 24 h a day, 100% duty cycle, 30 days, sorted cheapest to most expensive. Pick your state above to highlight it.
| Rank | State | Cents/kWh | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota | 11.81 | $5.10 |
| 2 | Idaho | 11.82 | $5.11 |
| 3 | Nebraska | 12.34 | $5.33 |
| 4 | Louisiana | 12.57 | $5.43 |
| 5 | Arkansas | 12.84 | $5.55 |
| 6 | Montana | 12.98 | $5.61 |
| 7 | Utah | 13.07 | $5.65 |
| 8 | Washington | 13.11 | $5.66 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 13.12 | $5.67 |
| 10 | Nevada | 13.15 | $5.68 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 13.18 | $5.69 |
| 12 | Kentucky | 13.24 | $5.72 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 13.38 | $5.78 |
| 14 | Wyoming | 13.38 | $5.78 |
| 15 | Missouri | 13.49 | $5.83 |
| 16 | Iowa | 13.72 | $5.93 |
| 17 | North Carolina | 14.02 | $6.06 |
| 18 | Mississippi | 14.03 | $6.06 |
| 19 | Kansas | 14.56 | $6.29 |
| 20 | Georgia | 14.73 | $6.36 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 14.96 | $6.46 |
| 22 | New Mexico | 15.08 | $6.51 |
| 23 | Florida | 15.24 | $6.58 |
| 24 | Virginia | 15.28 | $6.60 |
| 25 | Arizona | 15.32 | $6.62 |
| 26 | Oregon | 15.37 | $6.64 |
| 27 | West Virginia | 15.41 | $6.66 |
| 28 | Texas | 15.47 | $6.68 |
| 29 | Minnesota | 15.82 | $6.83 |
| 30 | Colorado | 15.85 | $6.85 |
| 31 | Alabama | 16.10 | $6.96 |
| 32 | Indiana | 16.23 | $7.01 |
| 33 | Ohio | 16.96 | $7.33 |
| 34 | Delaware | 17.13 | $7.40 |
| 35 | Illinois | 17.69 | $7.64 |
| 36 | Wisconsin | 18.16 | $7.85 |
| 37 | Pennsylvania | 19.30 | $8.34 |
| 38 | Maryland | 19.48 | $8.42 |
| 39 | Michigan | 20.01 | $8.64 |
| 40 | District of Columbia | 21.94 | $9.48 |
| 41 | New Jersey | 22.63 | $9.78 |
| 42 | Vermont | 22.92 | $9.90 |
| 43 | New Hampshire | 24.56 | $10.61 |
| 44 | Alaska | 26.09 | $11.27 |
| 45 | New York | 26.39 | $11.40 |
| 46 | Maine | 27.78 | $12.00 |
| 47 | Connecticut | 29.38 | $12.69 |
| 48 | Rhode Island | 29.46 | $12.73 |
| 49 | Massachusetts | 30.48 | $13.17 |
| 50 | California | 32.54 | $14.06 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 40.59 | $17.53 |
Rates: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, annual average residential price, 2025 (eia.gov). Full list on the electricity rates by state page.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run Starlink per month?+
About $7.47 a month at the 60 W default. 60 W for 24 hours is 1.44 kWh a day, or 43.2 kWh over 30 days, and 43.2 x $0.173 is about $7.47. A Standard dish averaging 85 W is closer to $10.60, and a Mini at 30 W about $3.74.
How much does it cost to run Starlink per year?+
About $91 a year. 1.44 kWh a day for 365 days is 525.6 kWh, and 525.6 x $0.173 is about $90.93 at the national average rate.
How many watts does Starlink use?+
About 25 to 100 W on average depending on the dish. Starlink's specification sheets list an average of 75 to 100 W for the Standard kit and 25 to 40 W for the Mini. Melting snow takes extra power, so expect a higher draw during winter storms.
How much does Starlink cost per day?+
About 25 cents a day. At 60 W for 24 hours it uses 1.44 kWh, and 1.44 x $0.173 is $0.25.
How much does Starlink cost per hour?+
About 1 cent an hour. 60 W is 0.06 kWh an hour, and 0.06 x $0.173 is 1.04 cents at the national average rate.
Does Starlink use a lot of electricity?+
Compared with other internet equipment, yes. At 60 W it uses about four times what a typical 15 W router and modem use, and because it runs 24 hours it adds about 525 kWh a year. Compared with a refrigerator or an air conditioner it is still a modest load.
How long will a power station run Starlink?+
About 14 hours from a 1,000 Wh station at 60 W, after about 15 percent inverter loss (1,000 x 0.85 / 60 = 14). A Standard dish at 85 W runs about 10 hours, and a Mini at 30 W about 28 hours.
Does the Starlink sleep schedule save electricity?+
Yes, up to about $2.49 a month for 8 hours of sleep at the 60 W default. That removes up to 0.48 kWh a day, or 14.4 kWh a month. Off grid, it also cuts the battery you need by about a third.
How much solar do I need to run Starlink?+
About 1,440 Wh a day at 60 W around the clock. With 4 to 5 peak sun hours and real-world losses, that usually means roughly 400 W of panels and a battery of at least 1,000 Wh to cover the night. The off-grid solar calculator sizes it for your location.
Is Starlink more expensive to run than cable internet?+
Yes, by about $5.60 a month. Starlink at 60 W costs about $7.47 a month, against about $1.87 for a 15 W cable modem and router. The gap is small next to the service price, but it matters a lot on battery or solar.
Marcus Reed
Founder and Editor, CrunchYourDollars
Marcus Reed builds the sizing tools on CrunchYourDollars. He is a software engineer with a long-running PC hardware and power supply habit, which is where the watts, watt-hours and surge math on this site comes from. Product specs are pulled from manufacturer data sheets, electricity rates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and water chemistry rules from the Water Quality Association. He is not a licensed electrician or plumber: the tools show the math and the matching models so you can make the call, and anything involving your electrical panel should be checked by a licensed pro.
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