While browsing at Costco I notice that most of the TVs now seem to show their energy usage guide. The numbers don't seem very high and are usually around $25 a year ballpark. It seems like a pretty small figure compared to spending $500-$1000 on a TV. However the amount of electricity used by TVs should not be ignored when comparing models. If you add up the electricity cost over a 5 year lifespan the differences between models can be significant.
To illustrate the point I grabbed the retail prices and electricity costs for a few TV models off the BestBuy website. I then figured the NPV (Net Present Value) of purchasing the TV at the advertised price and the energy consumption over a 5 year period. I used an arbitrary 4% discount rate for NPV.
Here is a selection of 55" TVs :
| Brand | Tech | Retail | Energy | NPV |
| Insignia | LCD | $600 | $47 | ($786) |
| Haier | LED | $649 | $24 | ($731) |
| TCL | LED | $700 | $15.5 | ($742) |
| Vizio | LED | $800 | $16 | ($840) |
The LCD based Insignia model is the cheapest to buy at just $600. However if you figure in 5 years worth of electricity costs then the LED based Haier model is cheaper in the long run. Another detail to notice is that between 3 different m manufacturers we see a fairly significant spread of energy costs among the LED models. The costs ranged from $15.5 to $24 per year for the same size and technology. You can see a pretty large difference in energy use between brands.
And here are some 50" TVs:
| Brand | Tech | Retail | Energy | NPV |
| Panasonic | Plasma | $500 | $26 | ($597) |
| TCL | LED | $530 | $10 | ($554) |
| Insignia | LCD | $550 | $39.00 | ($702) |
In this case again an LED model has the lowest NPV but not the lowest Retail price. The plasma from Panasonic is cheaper to buy but has higher electric use.
In both examples I looked at buying the cheapest TV would result in higher overall costs once you figure in the cost of electricity.
Keep in mind these are just examples to illustrate the point. You may do better overall with a bargain sale price on a Plasma model. But the point is to look at both the initial purchase price cost of buying the TV as well as considering the long term energy usage costs.
It should be pointed out that the energy guide figures are based on 11¢ kWh electricity rates and 5 hours of daily usage. Your electricity cost and viewing habits are likely to vary so you should probably adjust the figures to match.
Bottom Line: Don't ignore the energy consumption for large screen TVs. Paying a little more for a more energy efficient model can save you in the long run.
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