A system and method intelligently control power consumption of distributed services using a computer system that provides independent computing elements each capable of entering a power saving mode. In accordance with the present invention, three different algorithms are disclosed. The first algorithm is a reduced load power saving algorithm. As the load decreases, duplicate instances of services can be gracefully suspended and the host processor cards hosting these instances can enter a power saving mode. The second algorithm is a priority-based power consumption reduction algorithm. If power consumption must be reduced, services having less of a contribution to revenue are suspended before components that having a higher contribution to revenue. The third algorithm is a minimal power-consuming redundant computing hardware algorithm that allows a "cold spare" host processing card to be pressed into service if another card fails.