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How Much Does It Cost to Run a Outdoor Security Floodlight in California? (2026)

An LED floodlight draws 10 to 50 watts, replacing 150 to 500 watt halogen units. Motion sensors keep them off most of the night, which matters more than the wattage.

A typical outdoor security floodlight (30 W) costs $0.010 per hour, or about $3.15 per month at 10 hours a day in California. Cheap to run

Electricity price region Hours used per day

Wattage	Per hour	Per day	Per month	Per year
Low (10 W)	$0.003	$0.035	$1.05	$12.77
Typical (30 W)	$0.010	$0.10	$3.15	$38.32
High (100 W)	$0.035	$0.35	$10.50	$127.75

Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 10 h/day ≈ 110 kWh per year.

In California, with electricity at $0.35 per kWh (source: EIA Table 5.6.A, 2026-06), a typical outdoor security floodlight costs $0.010 per hour and about $38.32 per year at 10 hours a day. That is about 94% more than the US national average of $1.62 per month, because electricity in California costs $0.35 per kWh against $0.18 nationally. Each $1.00 of electricity buys roughly 95.2 hours of use.

How to lower the cost of running a outdoor security floodlight

Use motion sensors rather than dusk-to-dawn on lights that are only for security.
Replace any halogen floodlight with LED. It cuts consumption by 80 to 90 percent.
Aim lights where needed instead of adding more.

In standby it draws about 1 W, which adds roughly 9 kWh ($3.07) per year if it is never unplugged.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to run an outdoor light all night?

A 30 watt LED for 10 hours uses 0.3 kWh, a few cents a night.

Do motion sensor lights use electricity when off?

About 1 watt for the sensor, roughly 9 kWh a year.

How much does a halogen floodlight cost compared with LED?

A 500 watt halogen for 10 hours uses 5 kWh, versus 0.3 to 0.5 kWh for an LED of similar brightness.

Cost by region

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Use the generic electricity cost calculator →