Can I mine Monero at a profit if I pay 15 cents per kWh?
You might mine Monero at a profit at $0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), but that electricity rate leaves little room for inefficient hardware. An efficient desktop processor could cover its power costs under favorable conditions; browser mining is usually less competitive, and covering electricity does not necessarily mean you will recover the cost of your computer.
What 15 cents means for your daily cost
A kilowatt-hour is the energy used by a 1,000-watt device running for one hour. At your rate, the daily electricity cost is:
Watts ÷ 1,000 × hours mining × $0.15
If you mine around the clock, that works out to:
- 50 watts: $0.18 per day.
- 100 watts: $0.36 per day.
- 150 watts: $0.54 per day.
- 200 watts: $0.72 per day.
These are electricity costs, not earnings estimates. For example, a computer drawing 150 watts must earn more than $0.54 a day after fees just to cover its electricity.
Use a plug-in power meter if possible. Your processor’s advertised power rating does not include everything your computer draws from the wall.
Decide which power use actually counts
If you switch on a computer only to mine, count its full wall power, including fans, memory, and other components.
If your computer would already be running for another reason, you can compare its power use with mining off and on. That difference is the extra electricity mining uses.
For example:
- Already-running computer: 60 watts.
- Same computer while mining: 140 watts.
- Extra mining load: 80 watts, costing $0.288 per day over 24 hours.
That lower figure only makes sense if the computer genuinely would stay on anyway. If mining keeps it awake overnight, count its full overnight power use. Extra air-conditioning use also adds to your costs.
Check your actual mining output
Monero uses RandomX, a mining method designed to favor CPUs—the main processors in computers. Profitability depends on how much mining work your CPU performs for each watt it uses.
Your hashrate measures that work in hashes per second. Measure it after your miner has warmed up, then enter it into a live Monero mining calculator along with:
- Electricity price: $0.15/kWh.
- Your measured power draw.
- Mining pool fees, if applicable. A pool combines miners’ work and shares rewards.
- Any service fees or deductions.
Calculator results change with Monero’s price and competition from other miners. Treat them as estimates, not guaranteed income.
For browser mining, use your measured browser hashrate, not a benchmark from dedicated mining software. Browser performance and service deductions can make a substantial difference. Also check the minimum payout: a tiny displayed balance may take a long time to become withdrawable.
Separate a small surplus from real profit
Subtract electricity and fees from estimated revenue first. Then consider hardware costs, extra cooling, and wear on fans.
At your electricity rate, reducing processor power can sometimes improve profit even if it lowers hashrate. Test different settings and compare the money left after electricity—not just the highest mining speed.
Avoid buying hardware based on a narrow estimated surplus. Changes in price or mining competition can erase it.
The bottom line
At 15 cents per kWh, profitable Monero mining is possible, but you need measured power use and realistic earnings estimates to prove it. Browser mining is especially unlikely to provide dependable profit; test your own setup before committing money.
