How Much Does It Cost to Run a Television per Day and Month?

Source: Planning watts of 100 and 5 hours a day, hours of viewing a day. Price: 17.23 cents per kWh, the 2025 US residential average from EIA Form EIA-861.

The monthly cost is 2% of the $150.68 average US electric bill. It runs all year, so the yearly cost is twelve times the monthly figure.

One figure cannot fit every home. These three cases show how much the answer moves with the equipment and the hours.

The lowest case costs $1 a month and the highest $8. Use the calculator above to match your own.

The same television costs different amounts depending on the state, because the price per kWh differs. Here are the three cheapest states, the US average and the three costliest, for the same 15 kWh a month.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data). Price is residential revenue divided by sales and includes fixed charges.

See electricity rates in every state to find your own.

A television’s draw depends on screen size and brightness. Bright, high-dynamic-range settings and a big screen push the power up, and a set left in a quick-start standby mode still draws a few watts around the clock.

Screen size and brightness settings set the draw. A modern LED set uses far less than an old plasma. Standby mode and streaming boxes add a small constant load.

The range for this kind of appliance runs from about 50 to 200 watts. At 5 hours a day that is $1 to $5 a month, which is why checking the label on yours is worth the minute.

• Use the eco or standard picture mode instead of the brightest one.
• Turn off quick start features that keep the set powered.
• Plug the TV and boxes into a power strip you can switch off.

Next step: Electricity usage calculator. For general ideas, read how to lower your electric bill.

Other appliances in the electronics and lighting group: LED Light Bulb, Gaming PC, Computer, Crypto Miner, Hair Dryer.

The cost is watts divided by 1,000, times hours, times your price per kWh. The 100 watts is a planning figure for this kind of appliance, set from typical product ratings, and the 5 hours is an assumed day of use. Neither is copied from a federal table. Federal guidance describes the method and warns that real wattage varies, so we publish our own typical ranges and label them as such. Prices come from EIA Form EIA-861 for 2025.

The calculation is the standard one used in the U.S. Department of Energy's consumer guidance on estimating appliance energy use. Wattage varies by product age and features, so the label on your own appliance beats any average. Read more in our methodology.