Flat Screen Tv Electricity Usage (2024)

Your kids are glued to the TV!

You worry that maybe they’re not being active enough or using their imagination enough.

And if that wasn’t enough, you’re worried that your kids are wasting electricity in the process.

While we can’t keep your kids away from Paw Patrol, at Power Wizard, we can help you make sure you have an electricity rate that is so low, you will want to watch TV all day long!

Find your perfect electric plan with our Shopping Tool!

What Is My Flat Screen TV Electricity Usage?

The electricity usage of your flat-screen TV can vary widely depending on the size. The level of technology also makes a difference, but size has a larger impact on electricity usage.

A larger TV will likely need more energy to produce a quality picture on the screen.

There are other factors that go into the total energy usage of your flat-screen TV.

Your screen settings and whether you use it for streaming or gaming can also change the amount of power it consumes.

On average, your TV will use between 80 and 400 watts.If you estimate about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, and you use your TV for about five hours a day, the final cost will be $2 – $9 dollars per month.

Do Flat Screen TVs Use A Lot Of Electricity?

No, flat-screen TV’s do not typically use a lot of electricity. They only use a small fraction of energy compared to other appliances and electronics.

Your air conditioning and heating units use exponentially more electricity than your television. Your refrigerator, oven, clothes washer, and dryer all use more electricity each month than your TV.

TVs with improved technology use energy moreefficientlythan older models. However, newer TVs usually have larger screens so they might require more power.

Even with more efficient technology, newer model TVs can consume equally as much energy as smaller, older TVs because of their larger screens.

What Is the Average TV Electricity Usage?

Even with larger screens that consume more energy than older models, the flat-screen TV in your home still only makes up for about 5%of all of the total electricity that you use each month.

Limiting TV time can seem like a good way to save electricity in your home, but in reality, it will probably only save you a few dollars per month.

How To Find Your Flat Screen Power Usage Per Hour

To determine your flat-screen TV power usage per hour, first, find the wattage of your TV by looking at the label typically found on the back.

Multiply the wattage number by the number of hours of TV you watch per day.This will give you your watt-hours.

Divide your watt-hours by 1,000 to find your kilowatt-hours and multiply that figure by the rate you pay per kWh on your electricity bill.

This will give you the cost of using your TV per day.

The mostimportantpart of this equation is not your total TV usage as much asthe rate you are paying for your electricity.

If you want to save money on your electric bill, cutting down on TV time probably won’t save you very much.

Using Power Wizard can save you much more than trying to change your lifestyle. Just enter your zip code into our Shopping Tool to see how it works.

Power Wizard shops around for an electricity planhighly suited for you based on your personal usage needs. This ensures that you’re not overpaying for your electricity.

Instead of trying to limit TV time to save a few dollars, you can save hundreds by using Power Wizard to find you a better electricity plan.

When you become a Power Wizard member, we continuously monitor the marketplace for better deals and willlet you know if one becomes available so we can help you switch.

3 Factors That Determine Your Flat Screen TV’s Electricity Usage

Many factors determine your flat screen TV’s electricity consumption.

Some factors include:

• Age of your TV
• Size of the screen
• Type of TV screen
• Picture settings

Upgrading your TV to a newer model, especially with an Energy Star rating,can save you on electricity, butprobably not as much as you might think.

Factor #1: Age

Older TVs are usually less energy efficient.

Recent studies show that TVs produced in the last decade consume much less power than TVs produced in the past.

However,these studies are based on TVs of equal size. A smaller, older TV might use the same amount of energy as a larger, newer screen.

Factor #2: Size

The size of the screen is the biggest factor in your TV’s energy consumption.

Statisticsshow that between 1998 and 2018, the average size of TV screens in the U.S. more than doubled.

The best way to save on energy use from your TV would be to downsize your screen size so that it requires less electricity to operate.

However, as previously mentioned above, your TV doesn’t consume much electricity when compared to other appliances in your home.There might be better ways to cut savings than downgrading your TV screen size.

Factor #3: Screen Type

When shopping for a TV, you can choose between LCD, LED, and Plasma screen types.

Plasma screen TVs consume the most energy, and LED screens consume the least.

6 Energy Efficiency Tips for Your Flat Screen TV

If you’re looking for ways to cut down on your TV’s energy use, try these tips.

Tip #1: Turn Off Your Flat Screen TV

Watching TV is fun.Most people enjoy a good TV show or movie every once in a while.

But, we can all agree that too much TV usage probably isn’t great for overall productivity and happiness in life.

If you want to lower your TV usage, try switching it off for an entire day. Try making a goal of having one day per week without using the television.

These types of goals can help you create new habits, and might even lower your energy bill at the end of the month.

Tip #2: Check Your Flat Screen TV’s Energy-Efficiency Rating

Do you want a more energy-efficient TV? Check this out:

ENERGY STAR is a government program that rates products for their energy efficiency.The goal of ENERGY STAR is to encourage companies and consumers to try and save energy for the betterment of the environment.

TVs that have theENERGY STAR certificationuse 25% less energy on average than TVs without the ENERGY STAR label.When you’re shopping, try to find one that includes this certification.

Tip #3: Change The Brightness Settings On Your Flat Screen TV

Check to make sure that your TV isn’t still using the settings that it came out of the box with.

The factory settings are usually on the highest brightness possible, which wastes electricity and can strain your eyes.

Your TV might have a setting called “Eco,” which will put the brightness at a comfortable level and might save a little bit of energy.

Some TVs also have additional settings that can save on energy.

Some of these settings are:

• Standby
• Sleep
• Idle

Tip #4: Don’t Buy A Plasma Flat Screen TV

Plasma screen TVs are known for consuming more energy than all other screen types.

In order to save money on your TV electricity usage, avoid buying a plasma screen TV.

Tip #5: Use Less Energy While Gaming With Your Flat Screen TV

People who enjoy using their TV to play video games know that there isa lot of new technology making gaming more fun than ever.

Talking to other players through your headset, gesture recognition, wireless controllers, and live internet streaming are all features that gamers love.

However, some of these features can be consuming power even when you’re not using them.

It is possible to set up your game console to turn off specific features.

Ways tosave energy on your flat-screen TV while gaming:

1. Use the ‘Power Saving’ setting.
2. Turn off controllers that you’re not using.
3. Disconnect your Kinect system. Kinect senses your body movements constantly, so make sure to unplug it when you aren’t using it.
4. Download updates as they become available. Some updates improve the efficiency of your gaming system.
5. Don’t use your gaming system to stream TV shows and movies. Apple TV and other streaming devices use 15 times less energy to stream.

You don’t have to give up your Xbox in order to save money on electricity each month. Simply be aware of how it uses electricity and how you can make it more energy-efficient.

Tip #6: Use Less Energy While Streaming With Your Flat Screen TV

The best way to stream TV showsor movies is by using a smart TV. A smart TV has components built into it, like apps for Amazon Video or Netflix.

If you use a gaming console to stream, you will use an average of 15 times more energy to watch your shows or movies.

Another way to save electricity while streaming is to watch on your tablet instead of your flat-screen TV. The smaller screen uses a lot less power.

With streaming TV shows and movies becoming the most popular way to watch, we should all be aware of the best way to save energy when streaming.

Flat Screen TV Electricity Usage Compared To The Rest Of Your Electricity Bill

Your TV usage is probably only accountable for about 5 percent of your total electricity bill.

If you’re trying tocut down on your energy usage, there are probably better places to focus.

There are lots of ways tosave on electricity each month.

Let’s use Sarah’s story to illustrate.

Sarah recently moved into a new home and was surprised by her large electricity bill at the end of the month. She set out to try and save energy in her home.

She started by considering which appliances and electronics she used the most and realized that her TV was on for several hours each day.

But she didn’t know how much electricity her TV was really using.

To learn more, she tried Googling, “Cost of flat-screen electricity usage.”

Sarah quickly learned that her flat-screen TV was only accounting for about $5 per month on her electricity bill.

So, where was the electricity being used?

After doing more research, Sarah found out that thesize and age of her homewere major contributing factors to her large electricity bill.

But she couldn’t change the size or age of her home.So how was she supposed to save on her bill each month?

Luckily, Sarah discovered Power Wizard.

She learned that in order to savemoremoney on her electricity bill, she needed to find a better deal on the rate she was paying herelectricity company.

She used Power Wizard to shop around for a better electricity plan and ended up saving a ton of money each month without having to change her lifestyle.

Other Factors To Consider

The size and age of your home, and your personal lifestyle, make abigdifference in the bottom line of your electricity bill each month.

The Size Of Your Home

The size of your home can make the biggest difference in your energy billbecause the more square footage you have, the more your A/C and heater have to work to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.

High ceilings can also be a culpritof high electricity bills since the dead space above also needs to be heated or cooled.

In order to save money on electricity that is used for heating and cooling, you can:

• Change your air vents out frequently
• Get a tune-up on your A/C to make sure it’s working properly
• Use a fireplace or a space heater to warm a small area
• Use ceiling fans in the summertime

The Age Of Your Home

The age of your home can contribute to your billbecause older homes are generally less energy-efficient.

Older homes can have less insulation and let heat or cool air out easier.

In order to combat these factors, you could do the following:

• Replace older windows with double-pane insulation
• Replace your HVAC if it’s old and inefficient
• Replace older model thermostats

Your Lifestyle

Your lifestyle will affect your energy bill each month.

Let’s take Bill and Mark’s stories for example.

Bill is a lawyer who works long hours at the office and is rarely home.He lives alone and when he’s at work, the A/C and other appliances are off.

Sometimes he even works weekends and is only at home in the late evenings. Bill probably has a very small energy footprint in his home. Since he doesn’t need to heat and cool his house constantly, his electricity bill is most likely low.

Mark lives a little differently.

He works from home baking and selling wedding cakes. He is at home for much of the day, using electricity to heat or cool his home to a comfortable temperature.

He also has extra-large refrigerators in his home to keep his wedding cakes cold. Because of his lifestyle and work schedule, Mark probably has a larger electricity bill than most people.

Your hobbies, work schedule, and the number of family members can all contribute to your electricity bill.

The energy that your TV uses can contribute to the bottom line of your electricity bill,butnot by much.

The fact is, if you want to save money on electricity, you will want to look at other factors aside from your television usage.

Appliances such as air conditioning and your clothes dryer use much more electricity in your home than your TV. Limiting the use of these appliances is a good place to start when you want to lower your bill.

Although A/C can add a bundle to your electricity costs each month, the most expensive mistake that people make with their electricity bill is choosing the wrong electricity plan.

Many people are paying a premium rate without even realizing it. There might be dozens of better companies and plans available, but they can be hard to find.

Luckily, Power Wizard can save you a bundle by shopping the electricity market for the best deal for you.

We simply take a few pieces of information about your home and your usage, and we pair up your personal energy footprint with a planthat works best for your household.

Try using our Shopping Tool to see how much our program can save you each month. That way, you can use your TV and other appliances in your home without worrying about your electricity bill.