TV Power Consumption in Watts: What ENERGY STAR Data Reveals

Last updated: September 2026

🕒 5 min read

Disclosure: This article does not contain affiliate or sponsored links. SignalVetted may still reference specific products or brands for informational purposes only.

Your electricity bill doesn’t list the TV on its own line, so it’s fair to wonder how much of it the screen accounts for. How many watts does a TV use? It depends on the model, and the figures we use here are the ones reported to ENERGY STAR, the EPA’s efficiency program, when a TV is certified. Below are the certified figures for three 65-inch TVs, what those figures do and don’t mean, and how to turn watts into your own cost estimate.

How Many Watts Does a TV Use? Three Certified 65-Inch Examples

Each row comes from the model’s ENERGY STAR certification record. The wattage is the field ENERGY STAR labels “Reported On Mode Power (per the Federal Test Procedure)”, and every record lists the United States as its market.

Source: ENERGY STAR certified-TV records, retrieved September 2026. Screen size is the diagonal viewable size ENERGY STAR lists.

How the models are named

ENERGY STAR lists the Samsung record as QN65S85HAE and lists QN65S85HDE and QN65S88HAE as additional model designations on the same record.

The LG records use an asterisk. ENERGY STAR explains that the “*” can be any letter or number tied to the stand or enclosure colour, so OLED65C6PU* covers LG’s 65-inch C6 in its colour variants, and its record also lists OLED65C6AU*. The 65-inch C6 is reviewed in our LG OLED65C6 review.

The 65QNED82AU* record lists 65QNED77AZ* and 65QNED82AA* as related designations.

What “Reported On Mode Power” Actually Tells You

It comes from a standard test

ENERGY STAR describes the on-mode figure as the value obtained through the Federal Test Procedure during federal compliance testing and reported when the TV is certified. All three figures in the table come from that same named procedure. It’s still a test-procedure result, not a reading of your TV in your living room with your settings.

Automatic brightness was off by default

All three records say automatic brightness control is not enabled by default when the TV ships. ENERGY STAR names that feature as one that can save energy, so a TV where you switch it on may behave differently from the figure listed here.

Three examples, not an average

These numbers show what three specific models reported. They don’t tell you what a typical TV uses, and they aren’t enough to say whether one display technology uses more power than another. Two OLEDs and one LCD model, all at one size, is far too small a sample for that kind of conclusion.

Standby Power: The Figure That Runs All Day

A TV that’s “off” but still plugged in keeps drawing a little power. The three records list measured standby power of 0.60 W for the Samsung and 0.40 W for each LG.

For context, ENERGY STAR’s television criteria cap passive standby at 0.5 W and active standby (for a network-connected TV) at 1.0 W. Those are certification limits, not measurements, and the records don’t say which standby mode each figure was measured in, so we don’t compare the two directly.

What ENERGY STAR Says Affects Power Use

ENERGY STAR says its on-mode power requirements “vary according to screen area.” Among the features ENERGY STAR highlights for saving energy are automatic brightness control, which adjusts screen brightness to the light in the room, local dimming on LED-backlit TVs, and ENERGY STAR picture settings.

What ENERGY STAR doesn’t give is a number for any of those effects, so we won’t put one on them either.

Turn Watts Into Your Own Cost Estimate

You can estimate running cost with simple arithmetic: watts × hours of use ÷ 1,000 gives kilowatt-hours (kWh), and kWh × your electricity rate gives the cost.

Here’s the method with example inputs: the Samsung’s 118.91 W record figure, plus made-up usage of 4 hours a day for 30 days at an example rate of $0.20 per kWh. That’s 118.91 × 4 × 30 ÷ 1,000 ≈ 14.3 kWh, and 14.3 × $0.20 ≈ $2.86 for the month. Swap in your own daily hours and the rate on your bill.

Treat the result as an estimate: it uses a figure from a standard test, and your own picture settings may make real-world use differ.

Look Up Your Own TV

If your TV is ENERGY STAR certified, its record is in ENERGY STAR’s Product Finder for televisions. Search by brand or model number and look for the “Reported On Mode Power (per the Federal Test Procedure)” field, then run it through the formula above.

Frequently Asked Questions

✅ Based on ENERGY STAR certified-TV records (Samsung QN65S85HAE, LG OLED65C6PU*, LG 65QNED82AU*) and ENERGY STAR’s television criteria.