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How Much Does It Cost to Run a Garage Door Opener in the UK? (2026)
A garage door opener runs for about 15 seconds per cycle, so the motor uses almost nothing. Its standby draw of 3 to 8 watts, waiting for the remote, is the real cost.
A typical garage door opener (500 W) costs £0.13 per hour, or about £0.078 per month at 0.02 hours a day in United Kingdom. Cheap to run
| Wattage | Per hour | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low (300 W) | £0.078 | £0.002 | £0.047 | £0.57 |
| Typical (500 W) | £0.13 | £0.003 | £0.078 | £0.95 |
| High (800 W) | £0.21 | £0.004 | £0.12 | £1.52 |
Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 0.02 h/day ≈ 4 kWh per year.
In the UK, with electricity at £0.26 per kWh (source: Ofgem price cap 1 Jul–30 Sep 2026, 2026-07), a typical garage door opener costs £0.13 per hour and about £0.95 per year at 0.02 hours a day. Each £1.00 of electricity buys roughly 7.7 hours of use.
How to lower the cost of running a garage door opener
- Choose an opener with a low standby rating when replacing.
- Replace the incandescent bulbs in the opener with LED.
- Nothing else. The motor cost is negligible.
In standby it draws about 5 W, which adds roughly 44 kWh (£11.39) per year if it is never unplugged.
Frequently asked questions
How much electricity does a garage door opener use?
Around 30 to 70 kWh a year, nearly all of it standby.
Does a garage door opener use power when idle?
Yes, 3 to 8 watts continuously.
How much does one open and close cost?
A fraction of a cent. Fifteen seconds at 500 watts is 0.002 kWh.
Cost by region
- United States (average)
- California
- Texas
- New York
- Florida
- Canada (average)
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Australia
- India