SWK ENERGIE, a German energy company, offers "meinGAMING," a household electricity plan aimed mainly at gamers and streamers. It pitches a relatively low per-kWh rate to households that run high-performance PCs for long hours. The base fee is on the high side, however, and the price guarantee of up to 24 months excludes certain costs. Whether a "gaming" label translates into real savings depends less on your GPU model than on your household's total annual consumption and the contract terms, including the bonus.
2,500 kWh a year is not just gaming
The meinGAMING rate calculator offers three profiles: "Casual Gamer," "Pro Gamer" and "Gaming Haushalt." Selecting each one sets the annual consumption to 2,500 kWh, 3,500 kWh or 5,000 kWh. Rather than three different electricity plans, it is a way of making it easier to enter whole-household usage based on lifestyle. Official rate information
Gaming hours such as more than 10 or more than 30 hours a week are also mentioned, but each profile's annual consumption does not represent the electricity used by gaming alone. It assumes total household usage, including the refrigerator, lighting, working from home and so on.
The provider's guideline of "from about 2,500 kWh a year" reflects the plan's pricing structure: because the base fee is high and the per-kWh price is low, the plan tends to be cheaper once usage reaches a certain level.
Under this structure, the more you use, the smaller the fixed-cost burden per kWh. But using more electricity still means paying more in total. The plan can be advantageous only in comparison with other rate plans; there is no benefit in consuming more power for its own sake.
The official FAQ lists not only gamers but also households with electric cars or heat pumps connected to a standard household meter. It does not support dedicated meters that measure different day and night rates, for example for heating. This is not a service that requires special PC-related equipment; it is a single-rate plan for ordinary households.
meinGAMING also appeared in an announcement from the provider dated October 24, 2025. Just because it drew attention in October 2026 does not mean the service started then.
There is also context for Germany's strong interest in electricity prices. According to statistics Eurostat published in May 2026, the average household electricity price in Germany in the second half of 2025 was €38.69 per 100 kWh, versus an EU average of €28.96. Per kWh, that is 38.69 euro cents and 28.96 euro cents respectively.
These are averages for household electricity prices overall, however, and cannot be used to calculate savings by comparing against the per-kWh rate of an individual plan alone. Eurostat figures
"€96.29 a month" is not what you actually pay each month
For a 12-month contract in Mönchengladbach with annual usage of 3,500 kWh, the published terms give an annual cost of €1,255.44 before the bonus. Subtracting the €100 bonus gives an effective annual cost of €1,155.44.
This is an example calculated from the terms for postal code 41061 on the official regional page, checked as of October 6, 2026. For a 12-month contract, the per-kWh price is 30.24 euro cents and the base fee is €16.42 a month, both shown including tax. Rates vary by region and are not uniform nationwide.
| Cost item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Annual usage charge | €0.3024 × 3,500 kWh | €1,058.40 |
| Annual base fee | €16.42 × 12 months | €197.04 |
| Annual total before bonus | Sum of the above | €1,255.44 |
| Effective annual total after bonus | Annual total minus €100 | €1,155.44 |
| Monthly average before bonus | €1,255.44 ÷ 12 | €104.62 |
| Monthly average after bonus | €1,155.44 ÷ 12, rounded | €96.29 |
The displayed €96.29 a month matches the figure you get by subtracting the bonus from the annual cost and spreading it evenly over 12 months.
The FAQ, however, describes the monthly payment calculation as dividing the annual cost before the bonus by 12. Under these terms, the actual monthly payment would be €104.62. The effective monthly price in the advertising and the amount debited from your account each month therefore cannot be treated as the same thing.
The bonus is deducted from the next invoice after the initial contract period ends. It applies to new customers who did not receive electricity from SWK ENERGIE at that residence during the six months before signing.
The effective annual figure above assumes you meet this condition. Because the bonus is reflected only after the monthly payments, its timing also needs to be considered when thinking about the household budget. Monthly payments are also ultimately settled against actual annual usage, so using more than expected will result in an additional charge.
Furthermore, the "energy price guarantee" of up to 24 months fixes only the energy price component set by the electricity company. Taxes, levies, grid fees and the like are not covered, and if they change, the total payment including tax will also change.
Smart meter management fees may also be billed directly by a separate metering operator. The table above is a calculation example that assumes the published terms do not change and no such extra costs arise. Guarantee and billing terms
The usage level at which a plan with a high base fee and a low per-kWh price becomes advantageous depends on which plan you compare it with.
If you compare without the bonus, you can find a rough break-even point by dividing "how much higher the annual base fee is" by "how much lower the per-kWh price is." This approach works when both differences are positive; 2,500 kWh a year is not a dividing line common to all households.
Because the bonus is a one-time payment, after the first contract period ends you need to compare again using rates without the bonus.
An RTX 5090 at 575 W doesn't tell you the household bill
NVIDIA lists the total graphics power (TGP) of the GeForce RTX 5090 as 575 W. The recommended system power supply is 1,000 W, and a footnote explains that this is based on a configuration with a Ryzen 9 9950X.
However, 575 W is the rated power of the GPU card, and 1,000 W is the recommended capacity of the PC's power supply unit. Neither figure represents the average power a PC constantly draws from a household outlet during gaming. NVIDIA specifications and footnotes
To find annual energy consumption, you need to multiply actual average power draw by hours of use.
For example, assume the average outlet-side power draw of the PC and monitor combined is 600 W, used 30 hours a week for 52 weeks a year. In that case,
0.6 kW × 30 hours × 52 weeks = 936 kWh
annual energy consumption comes to 936 kWh.
This is not a measured value, nor a figure for any specific PC with an RTX 5090. Power consumption varies with the game and settings, and idle time and time spent working must be considered separately.
Even so, if you assume 936 kWh for in-game consumption and separate it from the 2,500 kWh of whole-household usage the plan assumes, it becomes clearer which figure to use when comparing rates.
If you are considering switching plans, you can check your household's annual consumption on your electricity bill. As for power consumption while gaming, you can measure the PC and monitor together with a power meter.
Whether a plan with a high base fee is worth choosing is more reliably judged from the annual electricity you actually buy at home than by guessing from a GPU's rated power.
Unlike dynamic tariffs, you don't have to change when you use power
Since 2025, all electricity suppliers in Germany have been required to offer a dynamic tariff. According to the Federal Network Agency, using this tariff requires a metering system with communication capabilities, and the per-kWh price follows wholesale electricity market price fluctuations. Federal Network Agency explanation
The way you save differs from the fixed per-kWh price meinGAMING advertises.
With a dynamic tariff, you can cut costs by increasing usage when electricity is cheap and reducing it when it is expensive. It tends to be advantageous if you have a large load whose timing is easy to shift, such as electric car charging, but high annual usage alone does not guarantee it will be cheaper.
The Federal Network Agency explains that prices are often higher in the evening, when demand for electricity rises and solar generation falls.
For people whose gaming sessions with friends or streaming schedules are fixed, shifting gaming to cheaper hours is not easy. In the same household, though, electric car charging may be movable to cheaper times.
When choosing a tariff, you need to consider not only whether total household electricity use is high but also which part of that consumption can be moved to other times.
The advantage of a fixed rate is that you can predict the energy portion of your bill from your usage without any such timing adjustments. In exchange, it is not a structure that passes on the full benefit of hours when wholesale market prices fall sharply.
More than whether you own a gaming PC, what shapes the choice of plan is whether you want to change when you use electricity, and whether you actually can.
Proof of renewable energy and a referral program for streamers
meinGAMING says it procures electricity from European hydropower and backs that volume with guarantees of origin. For electricity sold as 100% renewable energy, it says TÜV NORD CERT certifies it every year. About electricity sourcing
Guarantees of origin are a mechanism for confirming that renewable energy corresponding to the volume of electricity sold was actually generated and that its environmental attributes have not been sold twice.
The German Environment Agency explains that even with a guarantee of origin, the electricity a household actually consumes cannot be delivered directly from a specific renewable power plant. It is not accurate to think of this as a service in which only hydropower electricity is sent to your home PC. Environment Agency explanation
The clearer link to gaming lies in the sales approach.
The program for streamers and creators offers a reward of normally €75 for each customer referred. The reward is triggered not when the customer signs up but when electricity supply to the referred customer actually begins.
No minimum follower count is set, and the structure lets people introduce the plan to their stream viewers using a referral code or link.
For an energy company, the "for gamers" name is an easy-to-understand pitch to help people who use PCs for long hours find the plan, and also a way to use streamers and gaming communities as a sales channel.
But a "gaming" label does not automatically mean favorable terms for your household budget.
Using the annual consumption on your electricity bill as the baseline, compare base fees and usage charges over the same contract period, and check the one-time bonus and the costs excluded from the price guarantee. Only then can you judge whether the easy "gaming" entry point really leads to savings on your electricity bill.