How much does it cost to run a TV per hour in the UK?

Entertainment By Ellen HartwellPublished 15 October 2026

What a television draws, size by size

Samsung publishes two power figures for every television it sells in the UK, a typical one measured on a standard picture and a maximum reached with the brightness turned all the way up. Its 2025 Crystal UHD U8000F is a mainstream 4K LED range sold in every size from 43 to 85 inches, and the typical figure runs from 52 watts on the 43 inch set through 69 watts on the 50 inch, 79 watts on the 55 inch and 109 watts on the 65 inch, up to 138 watts at 75 inches and 165 watts at 85 inches. The smaller HD H5000 draws 27 watts at 32 inches, and every one of them sits at half a watt on standby.

The maximum figures show how much the picture setting matters. The same 55 inch set that draws 79 watts on a standard picture is rated at 125 watts flat out, and the 65 inch at 170 watts, which is the difference between a sensible picture mode and a showroom one.

OLED sets are listed in the EU product registry, which records SDR and HDR power separately. LG's 55 inch C5 is registered at 77.4 watts on ordinary viewing, almost exactly the same as the Samsung LED, and 191 watts playing HDR. The 42 inch C4 is listed at 52 and 90 watts, the 48 inch C4 at 65.7 and 123, and the 65 inch G5 at 84.6 and 222. The energy label on any new set in a UK shop gives the SDR figure in kWh/1000h, and that number is the average watts, so you can read your own television's draw straight off the box.

We cost the standard television at 79 watts, the 55 inch LED figure, because it sits in the middle of the range from a bedroom set to the largest living room screens.

Per hour, per evening and per year by screen size

The month and year columns assume four hours every evening. The two HDR rows only apply while HDR material is playing, so a household that watches one HDR film a week on an OLED and ordinary television the rest of the time will land close to the everyday row.

Rates: Ofgem cap 1 October to 31 December 2026 at 26.32p per kWh (source), EIA residential average June 2026 at 18.34 cents per kWh (source). Checked 2026-09-22.

Do bigger TVs use more electricity

They do, and the watts climb almost in step with the area of the picture. A 65 inch screen has about 40 per cent more area than a 55 inch one, and Samsung's typical figure rises by 38 per cent, from 79 to 109 watts. Over a year of four hour evenings those extra 30 watts cost £11.53, which is worth knowing when you are choosing between two sizes in a shop but rarely enough to decide it.

The jump to the very largest sets is steeper in pounds. An 85 inch set costs £63.40 a year on the same viewing, against £19.98 for a 43 inch one in a bedroom. A five year old set or a large screen on a bright picture mode will draw more than the typical figures here, which is why our guide to running a PS5 allows 120 watts for the screen.

OLED, HDR and the picture setting

On ordinary viewing an OLED costs about the same as an LED set of the same size, and at 65 inches LG's G5 at 84.6 watts undercuts the Samsung LED at 109. The difference arrives with HDR. When a film or a game sends an HDR signal the panel drives its brightest highlights much harder, and LG's 55 inch C5 goes from 77.4 to 191 watts, so a two and a half hour HDR film costs 12.6p where the same film in SDR would cost 5.1p.

LED sets behave the same way through their picture modes. The gap between the 79 watt typical and 125 watt maximum on the 55 inch Samsung is mostly brightness, and vivid or dynamic modes sit near the top of it. Standard or eco modes with the light sensor switched on keep the set near the typical figure.

The television is rarely the only thing on

Whatever is plugged into the screen often costs more than the screen itself. A PS5 running a game draws about 215 watts, so a three hour session costs 17.0p for the console on top of 6.2p for a 55 inch television. The router and set top box under the television run all day whether you watch or not, and our guide to what a Wi-Fi router uses per month puts a typical router alone at £1.92 a month.

Standby, by contrast, is close to nothing. A modern television is capped at half a watt when it is off, which comes to about 96p a year for a set that is watched four hours a night, as our guide to leaving a TV on standby explains.

What actually lowers the cost

• Turn the television off when nobody is watching. A 55 inch set left on all day costs 50p, which is six evenings of viewing gone to an empty room.
• Use the standard or eco picture mode and leave the light sensor on, which keeps an LED set near its typical figure instead of its maximum.
• Set the sleep timer if you fall asleep in front of it, since a set left running until morning can double that night's cost.
• Choose the size for the room when you buy. Each step up costs a little more every year for as long as you own it, so a 65 inch set in a small room is a running cost as well as a purchase.
• Switch the console off properly rather than leaving it in a rest or instant on mode, which saves more than switching the television off at the wall ever will.

What this costs in the United States

At the EIA residential average of 18.34 cents per kilowatt hour, a 79 watt 55 inch television costs 1.4 cents an hour and 5.8 cents for a four hour evening, which comes to about $21.15 for a year of evenings.