I'm curious about the electricity consumption of my grow light. It's a 100W LED clip-on light that I've been using for my plants. My partner and I have been debating our power bill since I started using the light during the winter. The bill jumped from $120 to over $230 in the first month, and he thinks the grow light is significantly affecting our expenses. I initially had it running for 10 hours a day but reduced it to 8 hours after he pointed it out. He suspects it's adding over $50 to our bill monthly, even though our last bill was $150. Since it's still too cold here in Alabama to put my plants outside, I'm wondering if the light really costs that much to run, especially since I've looked online and calculators suggest otherwise. Can anyone help clarify this? Thanks!
3 Answers
LED grow lights shouldn’t really cause a significant increase in your electric bill. $50 for a single light is way over the top. It’s more likely other factors are adding to your bill this winter!
Calculating power usage is pretty simple. If your light is indeed 100W and you run it for 10 hours a day, that totals about 1 kWh daily, which equals around 30 kWh per month. At a rate of $0.15 per kWh, that would be about $4.50 monthly. Your partner's estimate seems way high for just one light!
Yeah, I understand that the heater might be a bigger factor right now.
To really get a clear answer, consider using a power meter. They’re pretty affordable and can give you the accurate reading you need to settle this debate. Plus, it'll help you see how much power your heater and other devices are using too!
That's a good idea! I might just get one of those to put my partner's mind at ease.
That makes sense, but I think he might be concerned about the total bill going up due to winter heating as well. Maybe it's not just the light.