How much does it cost to run a TV?

A TV certified by ENERGY STAR costs about $3 to $117 a year to run at the US average residential electricity rate of $0.1856/kWh, based on 172 models we track. The class median is $35/yr. The cheapest to run is the Clear Tunes ATSC-PM81331 at about $3/yr, while the priciest models in the class run closer to $117/yr. Running cost in this class is driven mostly by screen size, panel technology, and on-mode brightness, covered in detail below.

What it costs

Across the 172 ENERGY STAR certified television models we track, annual running cost ranges from $3/yr to $117/yr, with a class median of $35/yr, all computed at the US average residential rate of $0.1856/kWh. That is a spread of $114 a year between the cheapest and priciest model we track, which over a typical decade-long appliance life is $1140 of difference before the purchase price even enters the math.

What drives the running cost

A TV's running cost is really about how bright its picture is and for how many hours a day it stays on:

• Screen size. A bigger panel needs more backlight or more emissive pixels to reach the same brightness, so energy use climbs with diagonal screen size, roughly across every panel technology.
• Panel technology. OLED panels light each pixel individually and can use less energy on darker content, but can use more on bright, full-screen content than an equivalent LED/LCD set; on-mode wattage varies more by model than by technology alone.
• On-mode brightness setting. The single biggest lever most owners control directly: a picture mode set to "vivid" or maximum backlight can use meaningfully more power than the same TV set to "standard" or an eco picture mode.
• Hours of use. ENERGY STAR's on-mode wattage figure assumes a standard number of hours per day; a TV left on longer, or used as ambient background noise, accumulates more of that hourly cost.

How to lower it

Because ENERGY STAR's published kWh/yr figure is measured at the factory picture setting, you can often cut a TV's real running cost below that certified number.

• Switch out of "vivid" or "dynamic" picture mode into "standard," "eco," or a calibrated mode; backlight-heavy modes are usually the single largest factor a viewer directly controls.
• Turn on any automatic brightness or ambient light sensor feature, so the backlight dims in a dark room instead of running at showroom brightness.
• Use the TV's sleep timer or auto-off feature instead of leaving it on as background noise.
• Unplug or use a smart power strip for the TV and any connected soundbar or streaming box, since many stay in a low-power standby draw around the clock otherwise.

The cheapest television to run

These are the five cheapest television models to run among the ones we track, ranked by estimated dollars per year. See the full leaderboard for all 150 ranked.

Calculate your own

These figures assume the US average electricity rate. If your local rate is higher or lower, or you want to check a specific model's real annual kWh, use the running-cost calculator to swap in your own rate and see the yearly cost update live.