Why $/kW alone is not enough
The headline colocation rate is useful because it normalizes the core facility charge against committed power. It does not necessarily represent the customer's complete monthly invoice.
Lightyear's 2026 pricing analysis reports a median retail all-in rate of $380 per usable kW per month for the second half of 2025, with $236 at the 10th percentile and $663 at the 90th percentile. Its benchmark combines space and power but explicitly excludes connectivity and cross-connects.
That is why this calculator keeps those services visible instead of hiding them inside a single rate.
Committed capacity can be more expensive than used capacity
If you contract 100 kW and average only 60 kW of IT load, the provider still reserves the contracted capacity. A large part of the monthly charge therefore remains tied to 100 kW rather than the 60 kW actually being consumed.
The calculator shows both effective cost per committed kW and effective cost per used kW. The second number makes underutilization visible.
Compare contracts using a realistic deployment ramp, not only the capacity you expect to use several years from now.
All-in and net-of-power quotes need different treatment
An all-in contract can incorporate space and electricity in the same recurring $/kW rate. A net-of-power contract may charge the facility commitment first and bill actual electricity separately.
Mixing the two structures creates a misleading comparison. In net mode, this tool estimates monthly energy from average used kW and approximately 730 hours per month.
The electricity price should come from the actual provider quote or contract whenever possible. National electricity averages are useful for context, not as a substitute for a data center tariff.
Escalators compound quietly
The calculator applies the annual escalator to the base colocation charge while holding the user-entered ancillary charges and electricity assumption constant. Real agreements may escalate additional line items.
Over a five- or ten-year term, even a modest annual escalation can add a material amount to contract TCO. Long contracts should therefore be compared on total modeled spend rather than month-one pricing alone.
What the calculator intentionally excludes
The model does not estimate taxes, migration costs, hardware, financing, bandwidth overages, SLA credits, early termination charges or future electricity inflation.
Those costs belong in a full procurement model. This page is designed to normalize the facility contract before that deeper analysis begins.
Use it to compare providers
Run each provider through the same committed kW, expected utilization, connectivity requirements, remote-hands demand and contract term. Then make sure power is either included in both comparisons or separated in both.
For deeper context, read Colocation Pricing per kW, What Actually Drives Colocation Pricing? and Colocation vs On-Premises TCO.
Market benchmark: Lightyear, 2026 colocation pricing guide. Electricity context: U.S. Energy Information Administration.