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How Much Does It Cost to Run a Smart LED Bulb in Texas? (2026)

Smart bulbs draw the same as ordinary LEDs when lit, plus about half a watt around the clock to stay connected. Across a house full of them, that standby draw can exceed the lighting itself.

A typical smart led bulb (9 W) costs $0.001 per hour, or about $0.22 per month at 5 hours a day in Texas. Cheap to run

Electricity price region Hours used per day

Wattage	Per hour	Per day	Per month	Per year
Low (5 W)	$0.001	$0.004	$0.12	$1.46
Typical (9 W)	$0.001	$0.007	$0.22	$2.63
High (14 W)	$0.002	$0.011	$0.34	$4.09

Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 5 h/day ≈ 16 kWh per year.

In Texas, with electricity at $0.16 per kWh (source: EIA Table 5.6.A, 2026-06), a typical smart led bulb costs $0.001 per hour and about $2.63 per year at 5 hours a day. That is about 11% less than the US national average of $0.24 per month, because electricity in Texas costs $0.16 per kWh against $0.18 nationally. Each $1.00 of electricity buys roughly 694.4 hours of use.

How to lower the cost of running a smart led bulb

Group bulbs on smart switches instead of individual smart bulbs where a whole room switches together.
Use schedules and dimming. A bulb at 50 percent brightness uses roughly half the power.
Count your bulbs. Thirty smart bulbs at 0.5 watts standby is 130 kWh a year.

In standby it draws about 0.5 W, which adds roughly 4 kWh ($0.70) per year if it is never unplugged.

Frequently asked questions

Do smart bulbs use electricity when off?

Yes, about 0.3 to 0.5 watts each, roughly 3 to 4 kWh per bulb per year.

Are smart bulbs more expensive to run than normal LEDs?

Slightly, because of standby draw. Dimming and scheduling can more than offset it.

Do color-changing bulbs use more power?

Bright white uses the most. Saturated colours often draw less because fewer LEDs are lit.

Cost by region

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Use the generic electricity cost calculator →