Do Neon Signs Use a Lot of Electricity? (Spoiler: Not Really)

One of the first questions people ask when they're thinking about a neon sign is whether it's gonna make their electric bill go up. Totally fair. Nobody wants a cool-looking sign that costs a fortune to run.

Here's the short version: LED neon signs use way less power than you probably think. Like, surprisingly little.

How Much Power Are We Actually Talking About?

Most of our signs run on about 20 to 50 watts. To put that in perspective, a regular old light bulb in your kitchen? That's usually 60 watts. An old-school glass neon sign? Those can run 100 watts or more.

So yeah. Your neon sign is probably using less electricity than the bulb in your ceiling fan.

Let's Do Some Quick Math

If you leave a 40-watt sign on for 8 hours every day, that's about 320 watt-hours a day. Times 30 days? Around 9.6 kilowatt-hours a month.

Where I am, electricity is about 15 or 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. That works out to maybe $1.50 a month.

So we're talking less than a cup of coffee. For a whole month of glow.

What About Leaving It On All Day?

Even if you left it on 24/7, we're still only talking about maybe $5 or $6 a month. That's still less than most people spend on a streaming subscription.

Point is, you don't need to stress about turning it off every time you leave the room. Let it glow.

Why LEDs Are So Efficient

LEDs don't use heat to make light. That's the big difference. Glass neon? It gets hot. It's basically a tiny heater that also happens to glow. LEDs just... glow. Way less energy, way less heat, way less cost.

In Short

Your neon sign isn't gonna jack up your electric bill. It uses about as much power as a regular light bulb, maybe less. You can leave it on without thinking twice.

So go ahead. Get the sign. Let it glow. Your wallet won't notice.