How much does an LED bulb cost per month in District of Columbia?

About 35.6¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 25.98¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an LED bulb use?

Roughly 16 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.01 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

District of Columbia has the 9th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $2.98 a year.

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Cost to run an LED bulb in District of Columbia (August 2026 rates)

At 25.98¢ per kilowatt-hour — District of Columbia's average residential price in August 2026 — running an LED bulb costs $4.27 a year. That is 43% more than the national average of $2.98. District of Columbia's residential rate is up 12.1% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $3.81 to $4.27 a year.

Per hour: 0.2¢
Per day of use: 1.2¢
Per month: 35.6¢
Per year: $4.27

Assumption: 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year — 16 kWh a year. A 9 W LED producing about 800 lumens, the equivalent of an old 60 W incandescent. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How District of Columbia compares

District of Columbia pays 25.98¢/kWh, the 9th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $1.28 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same LED bulb costs $2.09 a year in Nevada and $7.75 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $5.66 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Connecticut	24.51¢	33.5¢	$4.03
New Jersey	24.61¢	33.7¢	$4.04
District of Columbia	25.98¢	35.6¢	$4.27
New Hampshire	27.64¢	37.8¢	$4.54
Rhode Island	28.18¢	38.6¢	$4.63

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an LED bulb.

What else costs about the same in District of Columbia

Clothes iron$4.29 a year in DC String of christmas lights$1.75 a year in DC Smart speaker$6.83 a year in DC

Cutting the number down

Per bulb the cost is trivial; a house has 40 of them, and that is the number that matters.
Dimming an LED does cut power draw, though not perfectly in proportion to the light output.

Questions

How much does an LED bulb cost per month in District of Columbia?: About 35.6¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 25.98¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an LED bulb use?: Roughly 16 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.01 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: District of Columbia has the 9th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $2.98 a year.