Help understanding PoE Budget

Hi All,

I hope this is the right place for my question, i apologise if not!

I am having a hard time understanding PoE budget and how this is calculated. Please see example below:

16 port PoE switch with 76 watt PoE budget.

IP phones connected with the following PoE consumption: Standby (W) 2.08. MAX (W) 5.9. Class (IEEE802.3af) CLASS2. The table for CLASS2 states 'minimum power required at power on 7.0W'

What would happen if I were to exceed the power budget? Do I risk damage to equipment, or equipment just not receiving power/turning on?

We currently have 13 IP phones connected with no issue, which based on the CLASS2 minimum power means we could be pulling 91W (7W x 13 Phones), but we arent having any issues on a 76 watt switch.

Should i be using the CLASS2 spec or just the MAX (W) spec when choosing a new switch? Even if using the MAX (W) spec, i am still over my budget, but its probably not been an issue if the phones dont use close to their maximum power consumption.

I hope that makes sense and would appreciate if anyone could offer any guidance.

Thanks