How much electricity does a TV use?
A 55-inch television draws **96 watts** while you are watching it. That is the median of 21 certified models measured under the federal test procedure, and the middle half of them fall between 83 and 102 watts. At the US average tariff that is about **1.8 cents an hour**. Four hours a night for a year comes to roughly **$26**.
Work it out with your own tariff
| Period | Cost | Hours counted |
|---|---|---|
| One hour running | $0.01 | 1 hour |
| A full 24 hours on | $0.27 | 24 hours |
| A day of typical use | $0.01 | 1 hour |
| A month | $0.33 | 1 h/day × 30 |
| A year | $4.07 | 1 h/day × 365 |
93 W × 1 h ÷ 1000 = 0.09 kWh × 12¢ = $0.01 for a day of typical use.
Calculated at 93 W, the middle of the 83–102 W range. Rate defaults to 18.44¢ (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2026-05) — a national average, which is wrong for you specifically, so put your own in above.
For comparison, the published annual figure is 181 kWh — a measurement under a standard test procedure. Our arithmetic at 1 hours a day gives 34 kWh. Where they disagree, the gap is the test procedure not matching your usage, and neither number is wrong.
The number depends on screen size, and only on screen size
Panel technology and brand matter far less than area. These are measured on-mode figures from the certified-product data, by screen class. The range shown is the middle half of models, not the extremes, because one model at the edge does not describe a class.
| Screen size | Middle half draws | Median | Models measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34-43 inch | 55-73 W | 63 W | 14 |
| 44-50 inch | 68-83 W | 74 W | 17 |
| 51-59 inch | 84-103 W | 99 W | 23 |
| 60-65 inch | 114-127 W | 119 W | 23 |
| 66-75 inch | 139-148 W | 141 W | 9 |
| 76 inch and up | 167-193 W | 173 W | 20 |
Going from 43 to 65 inches roughly doubles the draw. Going from 65 to 76-plus adds about half again.
Switched off, a modern TV costs almost nothing
This is the question where the folklore is furthest from the measurement. Standby draw on certified sets is 0.3 to 0.5 watts — the median is 0.40 W with the network connected and 0.30 W without. The highest figure in the whole dataset is 0.86 W.
Left in standby for a full year, 0.4 W costs about 65 cents. Unplugging the television to save money is not worth the walk across the room; unplugging it during a thunderstorm still is.
Two things this does not cover. A soundbar, console or set-top box plugged into the same socket has its own standby draw, and those add up faster than the television does. And a set old enough to predate the one-watt standby rules can draw ten times as much — the figures here describe sets certified today.
The official annual figure assumes about five hours a day
The same dataset publishes an annual consumption figure: for 55-inch models the median is 181 kWh a year, across a range of 120 to 246.
That figure is worth reading carefully, because it embeds an assumption about how much you watch. Divide it by the measured 96 watts and you get 1,885 hours, which is 5.2 hours a day. If you watch two hours, the label overstates your cost by more than half; if the television is on eight hours a day as background, it understates it.
This is the single reason published figures disagree with each other. Two sites can both be right about the watts and differ threefold on the yearly cost, because one assumed two hours and the other assumed eight. Neither says so.
What it costs you specifically
Set the hours and your own tariff below. The arithmetic is shown in full rather than summarised, so the figure is checkable rather than merely quotable.
What this does not account for
These are certified sets, which is a biased sample. ENERGY STAR certification is voluntary and only efficient models earn it, so this data describes the better end of the market. A television that was never submitted for certification will typically draw more than the figures here — not less. Treat the numbers as the efficient case, not the average of everything on sale.
Measured under a standard test, not in your living room. The federal test procedure plays a defined video clip at the set's default picture settings. Real draw moves with brightness, with HDR content, and above all with picture mode: the showroom "vivid" or "dynamic" preset can pull substantially more than the tested default. If you have never touched the picture settings, the tested figure is close. If you turned brightness to maximum, it is low.
Sample sizes per class are small. The 66-75 inch class rests on nine models. A range from nine measurements is a description of those nine sets, not a population estimate, and a tenth model could sit outside it.
Standby figures cover the television only. Everything else on the same power strip has its own draw, and the total at the wall will be higher than the figure quoted here.
Worth reading next
Sources
- 01ENERGY STAR certified televisions — measured on-mode power per the federal test procedureU.S. Environmental Protection Agency ·
- 02Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 — average price of electricity to ultimate customersU.S. Energy Information Administration ·
How these figures are produced: see our methodology.
Figures are calculated from published wattages and a published tariff, both dated above. They are good for comparing devices, not for predicting your bill: your rate, settings and usage all differ.