How much does it cost to run a TV?
Work out what any appliance costs to run per use, per month and per year on your own electricity rate — including what it draws on standby.
Using the Belgian average of 34.99c/kWh — Eurostat, the second half of 2025.
A 55-inch LED set watched four hours a day. Screen size and panel technology move the first number more than anything else on this page.
Common cases
What drives the cost
Televisions have quietly become one of the cheaper things in the room to run. A 55-inch LED set draws around 80 to 120 W in normal use, against 300 W or more for a plasma of the same size fifteen years ago. Four hours a day of viewing is a few pounds a month rather than a line item worth worrying about.
Two things still change the answer. Screen technology matters more than size: OLED panels draw power roughly in proportion to how bright the image is, so a dark film costs less than a bright sports broadcast, while LED sets are much flatter across content. And the picture mode matters more than most people realise — a set left in the shop-floor 'vivid' or 'dynamic' preset can use half again as much as the same set in a normal or filmmaker mode, for a picture most people prefer anyway.
How this is worked out
Electricity is billed per kilowatt hour. An appliance's kilowatt hours are its power in kilowatts multiplied by the hours it runs — so a 2,000 W appliance running for 30 minutes uses 1 kWh. Multiply that by your unit rate and you have the cost. The standing charge is not included here because you pay it whether or not you switch anything on.
What this assumes
- The appliance draws its rated power for the whole time it is on. Anything thermostatically controlled — ovens, heaters, fridges — cycles on and off, so the real figure is lower.
- Your unit rate stays flat all day. On a time-of-use tariff the same appliance costs materially different amounts depending on when you run it.
- A year is 52 weeks of identical use, which overstates seasonal appliances and understates ones you use in bursts.
- The rate filled in for you is an average that spreads fixed charges across a year's usage, so it sits above what one extra unit really costs. Entering the unit rate from your own bill gives a closer answer.
Questions
Does screen size change the running cost much?
Less than you would guess within a technology, and more than you would guess across one. Going from 43 to 65 inches on the same LED technology is maybe a 60% increase in consumption; going from LED to a large OLED or an old plasma changes it far more. Panel type is the bigger lever.
Does turning the TV off at the wall save much?
A little, and less than it used to. Modern sets are limited to around half a watt on standby, which is well under a pound a year. It becomes worth doing when the television is part of a stack — a console, a soundbar, a set-top box and a streaming stick together are a different proposition, which is what the standby page is about.
Does this include the standing charge?
No, and deliberately. The standing charge is a fixed daily fee for being connected at all, so it does not change when you run an appliance more or less. Including it would make every appliance look more expensive than it is.
Where do I find the wattage?
On the rating plate — usually a sticker on the back, base or inside the door — or in the manual. It is written as W or kW. If it only quotes amps, multiply amps by 230 to get watts.
Why is my bill higher than the total this gives?
Because this prices one appliance. Heating, hot water and the constant background draw of everything left plugged in usually make up more of a bill than the appliances people think to check.
Sources
- Ofgem — price cap unit rates — checked 2026-08-21
- Energy Saving Trust — quick tips to save energy — checked 2026-08-21
Rates from Eurostat for the second half of 2025. Last reviewed 3 September 2026.