Buying a TV or monitor: what really decides the electricity bill

How much does a bigger screen add to the running cost?

Power draw rises roughly with screen area, and area grows with the square of the diagonal. A 65-inch screen has about 2.3 times the area of a 43-inch screen of the same shape, so even an efficient large TV usually draws more watts than an average small one.

That is why the EU label judges efficiency relative to screen area: the class says how well a TV uses electricity for its size, not how much it uses. On our TV and monitor overview models are grouped by type and diagonal and ranked only within their own size band.

Rule of thumb: choose the size for your room and viewing distance first, then compare watts only within that size band. One size up often changes the running cost more than one class up.

Monitors carry the same label and test, but often run far longer than a TV. Our yearly figures assume 4 hours a day; for a work screen, set your hours in the bar above or in the electricity cost calculator.

What do the two numbers on a TV label mean?

The label states on-mode consumption in kWh per 1,000 hours twice: once for standard dynamic range (SDR) content and once for HDR content, each with its own class on the A to G scale.

A value in kWh per 1,000 hours equals the average power in watts: a screen labelled 80 draws about 80 W, or 0.32 kWh in a four-hour evening. It is measured in the “normal configuration”, the picture settings the TV recommends at first set-up, with a standardised moving-picture loop of typical broadcast content. This scale has applied since 1 March 2021 under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2013.

The top classes are still rare for TVs, so C or D can be a good result in a large size band. The label explainer for TVs and monitors covers every field, including the QR code that leads to the official register entry.

Does watching in HDR really cost more?

Yes: HDR content drives the panel much brighter, so the HDR figure on the label is normally higher than the SDR figure, and on some models several times higher.

Like the label, our yearly costs use the SDR value. If you stream or game mostly in HDR, the HDR watts are the better guide for those hours; every model page shows both figures and their ratio.

Picture presets and the light sensor

Bright presets such as “vivid” or shop modes raise power above the label value, because the label is measured in the normal configuration. Automatic brightness control helps in the other direction: a screen whose rating benefits from its light sensor must ship with the sensor switched on and must cut its power by at least 20 % when the room light drops from 100 to 12 lux. Leaving the light sensor on is one of the cheapest savings available.

OLED or LED: which one uses less electricity?

Neither technology wins every time: an LCD’s power depends mainly on its backlight, an OLED’s on how bright the picture is.

• LED-backlit LCD: the backlight runs whatever the scene. Local dimming, including mini-LED, lowers it behind dark areas, so dark films use less than bright sport.
• OLED: every pixel makes its own light. Dark scenes need very little, while large bright areas such as a white web page or a snowy landscape need much more.

The label loop mixes typical broadcast content, so it captures an average for both. Compare the actual SDR and HDR figures of your shortlist in one size band, or start from the most efficient TVs and monitors.

Is standby still worth worrying about?

For a TV on sale today, hardly: EU ecodesign rules cap standby at 0.5 W and networked standby at 2 W, with small allowances for extra functions such as a status display.

Networked standby, which lets an app or voice assistant wake the TV, must be off by default on televisions, and the TV has to ask before enabling it. TVs must also switch to standby by default four hours after the last button press. Standby is not in our yearly figures; each model page lists the declared values.

How long are spare parts and software updates guaranteed?

Under Regulation (EU) 2019/2021, key spare parts must be available for at least seven years after the last unit of a model is placed on the EU market, and firmware updates for at least eight years.

• Professional repairers must be able to order the internal power supply, connectors for external equipment, larger capacitors, batteries and, where fitted, disc and storage modules.
• You can order the remote control and the external power supply yourself.
• Parts must be delivered within 15 working days of the order.
• The latest firmware and the latest security update must remain available for eight years after the last unit is placed on the market.

The panel itself is not on the list, so a cracked screen often makes repair uneconomic, and the firmware rule does not oblige streaming services to keep their apps running. Under the right-to-repair directive (EU) 2024/1799, which EU countries must apply from 31 July 2026, manufacturers must repair displays on request outside the legal guarantee, free of charge or for a reasonable price. For purchases from that date, choosing repair over replacement during the legal guarantee extends it once by 12 months.

When does replacing an old TV pay for itself?

On electricity alone it rarely does: swapping a working TV pays off only when the old set draws much more than a new one of the same size and you watch for many hours.

1. Find the old TV’s power from its label or manual, or measure an evening with a plug-in power meter.
2. Take the SDR watts of the new model you are considering, in the same size.
3. Multiply the difference in watts by your daily hours and 365, divide by 1,000 and multiply by your electricity price: that is the yearly saving.
4. Divide the new TV’s price by that saving and compare the years with how long you expect to keep it.

The total cost of ownership calculator does this with the price you enter. Because electricity prices differ widely across Europe, the same swap can pay back in one country and not in another.

A bigger replacement screen can wipe out the saving. Compare against the size you will actually buy.

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