How Much Does a TV Cost to Run? [349 TVs Analyzed in 2023]

Name Brand TV Electricity Costs Calculated in 2023

Referencing the extensive data and analysis from our “How many watts does a TV use?” post, it was only natural to use that information to figure out how much does a TV cost to run!

With rapidly-rising and fluctuating electricity prices, we will use the U.S national average of $0.1605 per kWh for all of the calculations in this post. The electricity cost data was last collect in July of 2022 by the U.S Energy Information Administration.

Be sure to check your latest power bill to determine what you’re exact costs would be to power your home TVs, as it varies widely from $0.1042 per kWh in Washington and all the way up to $0.4481 per kWh in Hawaii!

The TVs we analyzed have screens that range from 32 to 98 inches and have many different features and resolutions available. As shown in our TV power usage study, the amount of power, and cost, will vary drastically based on size, features and name brand!

Highlights:

• On average, it costs $0.11 per day, $3.37 per month, and $40.98 per year to run a TV.
• Electricity costs vary between $8.35 and $152.90 per year to power an average TV.
• The average 75 inch TV costs $85.94 per year in Washington, but costs $369.56 per year in Hawaii.
• Simply having a TV plugged in and not being used can cost up to $1.96 per year!

What makes this information and data different from other websites writing about this topic is that we researched only name brand TVs for this data, and didn’t use any of the readily available TV power information from Energy Star. Most of those TVs are not what people are buying and using, so that data under-estimates the TV wattage and power numbers, and hence, the costs of powering the TVs!

How Much Electricity Costs to Run a TV

Electricity rates have been relatively inexpensive for a long time, but with recent rate increases has people thinking more about saving money by using less electricity. Focusing on how power appliances like modern TVs is a great place to look at to potential save some money.

As expected, TV electricity costs scale as the TV screen gets larger. In addition, features such as high resolutions and louder audio will increase TV energy costs!

To help give you a general idea of the cost to run a TV per hour, per month and per year, we’ve provided the following information in chart and table format below.

You can get a rough idea of how much running your TV is costing you. However, if you want a more exact amount, then you will need to figure out how many watts your TV is consuming, know how many hours a day you watch TV, and know your current electricity rates in kWh!

Also, some TV brands tend to cost more, or less, compared to other ones, so that might help make any new TV buying decisions you need help with!

Cost to Run a TV per Hour

How many hours a day do you watch TV? Do you leave some TVs on all day, or maybe when you’re gone to keep the dog entertained?

Regardless, breaking down how many hours each TV is on is the only way to get an accurate cost estimate for the true costs.

The average TV cost per hour chart below gives you an rough estimate of how much your TV will cost to run.

I know a few pennies doesn’t seem like much, but they really start to add up each day, week and month!

Cost to Run a TV Per Month

Before you know it, those pennies that each TV costs to run per hour quickly add up to dollar at the end of the month.

Have more than one TV? Guess what, now running the TVs is starting to cost $10, 20, or maybe even $30 per month to run!

That might not be a lot of money for some people, but it definitely gives you some ideas where you can cut back and save money if you turn a TV off a little more often when it’s not needed!

Cost to Run a TV Per Year

Yearly costs for running a TV paint a great overall picture of true costs with a nice big dollar amount!

The monthly TV electricity costs is probably more practical since most of us pay our electric bill monthly, so we can see what percentage of our power bill goes to watching alone!

Regardless, a 32 inch TV really isn’t going to break the bank to power for a year, but the larger LED TVs can start to add up and possibly get close to costing $75 per year to operate!

TV Electricity Costs by Screen Resolution

Once we broke out the electricity cost by resolution we came to an obvious conclusion: higher resolution TVs use more power than lower resolution TVs.

This isn’t too much of a surprise because there are more LEDs to power, many more pixels to turn off and on, and usually the higher resolution TVs are larger screen models!

Then approximate rule-of-thumb from the chart below is that the energy costs double as the screen resolution doubles!

TV Electricity Costs by Brand Name

Just like the number of watts TVs needed to run varied a lot by manufacturer, the cost to power those TVs is going to vary just as much!

How Much Does a TV Cost When in Standby Mode (Off Mode)?

The typical standby mode power consumption is 0.5W for smart TVs. This number is very small compared to what the TVs consume when in On mode, but it does add up over the year.

In general, it costs less than $2 to simply have a TV plugged in for the entire year!

Do TVs Cost a Lot to Run?

TVs do not cost a lot to run. However, the cost of powering larger TVs with higher resolutions like 4K and 8K can start to cost $10-$20 per month if you use them a lot.

FAQs

Summary

So, how much does it cost you to run your TV or TVs at home? How many hours a day do you leave them on?

Hopefully this study of how much it costs to run LED TVs in 2023 from name brand manufacturers helped give you an understanding of the true costs associated with powering TVs in your home.

There was a lot of information presented, but the information was presented in such a way to give you an accurate electricity cost, per TV, that you use.

One of the easiest ways to save money on running a TV is by purchasing an energy efficient TV.

Now that you have that information, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to add up your TV costs and figure out how to save some money every month?

If you’re not interested in TV running costs, but need to know how many amps a TV uses, then be sure to view this article!

We’d love to hear from you if you have any comments or specific questions that we didn’t cover.