Can You Save Money With a Portable Power Station?

A portable power station can be a vital tool for power outages. It can also be an addition to a backyard party or an awesome trip. One more positive is a portable power station, especially when paired with solar power, gives you free energy for many uses.

You can use portable power stations to have power away from home, help get you through an emergency, and eliminate the need to buy and store fuel for a generator. Let's explore how portable power stations and solar energy can maximize these benefits.

How a Portable Power Station Could Save You Money

Beyond gaining energy resilience and independence, especially during power outages, a portable power station could save you money by reducing your reliance on fuel-generated electricity. By storing solar power in a portable power station, you can utilize free electricity at home or away.

Taking a portable power station on the road can save you from hookup fees at RV parks or campgrounds. You won't need to carry a generator and fuel, nor will you likely have to buy more fuel along the way.

If you enjoy working or need to work outside the office or home, a portable power station provides inexpensive flexibility, allowing you to work anywhere.

If you have time-of-use rates or peak and off-peak periods with your electric utility, you can use a portable power station to store free solar power, then use the stored power during peak rate periods.

While all these possible savings sound great, whether a portable power station can save you enough money to make up for its cost requires a closer look.

Can a Portable Power Station Save You Money?

The best way to save money with a portable power station is to fill it with free, renewable solar power. You can charge a power station’s battery with solar power straight from your home solar panels, via battery power from solar-generated electricity, or with portable solar panels. With solar, you’ll save money versus using grid power.

If you’re filling a portable power station with utility power, how much it’ll cost depends on the capacity of the station and the electricity rate, which will vary by state, utility company, and rate policies such as time-of use or peak rates.

You can take a power station’s capacity in Wh, your utility’s rate, and the efficiency loss of the station (usually 10%-20% of power going in is lost) and get a good estimate of price per full charge. 

For instance, in California, with an average rate of 35.03 cents per kWh as of May 2025, if you have a 2,000 Wh (2 kWh) portable power station with a 15% efficiency loss, you can do the following calculation. 

(2 kWh + 0.3 kWh for efficiency loss) x 35.03 cents = $0.81 per recharge

States’ average electric rates in May 2025 ranged from 11.88 cents/kWh in Idaho (27.34 cents per charge) to 41.03 cents/kWh in Hawaii (94.37 cents).

The cost per recharge would be higher during peak or super-peak rate periods. 

Let’s do the same math using rates from San Diego Gas and Electric as of July 2025. SDG&E’s TOU-DR2 peak rate, from 4-9 p.m. on weekdays, is 74.3 cents/kWh. 

2.3 kWh x 73.7 cents = $1.71 per recharge

A two kilowatt-hour portable power station will cost you up to $1,500. Assuming you could fully charge your power station using free solar electricity and use its full capacity to offset the most expensive on-peak electricity, it would take you 887 days, or almost two and a half years to reach a break even point. It would take even longer if your electricity costs less.

Other Benefits of Portable Power Stations

A solar portable power station provides electricity anywhere, offering easy and free recharging for both emergency and recreational uses. During a power outage, you can power medical devices, a mini-fridge, fans, space heaters, phones, radios, and other essential emergency items. Unlike a gas generator, a portable power station is safe to run indoors (as it produces no fumes), requires no fuel or oil, poses no significant fire risk, operates quietly, and needs no mechanical maintenance.

For leisure, recreation, travel, and fun, portable power opens up possibilities while driving, camping, hiking, biking, grilling, tailgating, going to the beach, or during a party. It also serves as a convenient power source for outdoor projects, making jobs with power tools easier and quicker.

For more of the benefits, and likely savings, you could see with home solar power, you can go to our home energy advisor or solar savings calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you save money with a portable power station?

You can save money using a portable power station. You’ll save the most by recharging a portable power station with solar power. 

What is rate arbitrage?

Rate arbitrage with power is when you store free or inexpensive electricity, then use it yourself or sell it to the utility grid when electricity is expensive. For instance, you can store excess solar power in a battery during the day, then use it or send it to the grid for net metering credits during peak rate periods.

Top photo by Zendure Power Station on Unsplash