Do Smart Light Bulbs Use Electricity When Off? — Complete Guide (2026)

Yes, smart light bulbs do use a small amount of electricity when turned off. A typical smart bulb draws between 0.3 and 0.5 watts in standby mode because its internal radio (Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Thread) must stay powered on to listen for commands from your app, voice assistant, or hub. This standby draw — sometimes called phantom power or vampire power — costs roughly $0.50 to $1.00 per bulb per year at average US electricity rates. For a home with 10 smart bulbs, that is about $5-10 annually, a cost that smart scheduling and dimming capabilities more than offset through energy savings elsewhere.

Understanding Phantom Power in Smart Bulbs

Every smart bulb contains more than just an LED chip. Inside the housing, you will find a small circuit board with a wireless radio (Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, or Thread), a microcontroller to process commands, and power regulation components. When you tell Alexa to turn off a smart bulb, the LED itself stops producing light, but that wireless radio and microcontroller keep running. They have to — otherwise the bulb would have no way to hear the next command to turn back on.

This constant low-level power draw is known as phantom power (also called vampire power or standby power). It is not unique to smart bulbs. Your microwave clock, TV in standby mode, and phone charger with nothing plugged in all draw phantom power. The difference is that smart bulbs draw very little compared to other phantom loads. A TV in standby uses 1-5 watts. A cable box draws 15-30 watts in standby. A smart bulb’s 0.3-0.5 watts is among the lowest phantom loads in your home.

The exact standby wattage varies by bulb type and connection protocol. Wi-Fi smart bulbs typically draw 0.3-0.5 watts because maintaining a Wi-Fi connection is relatively power-hungry for a small device. Zigbee and Thread bulbs (like those in the Philips Hue ecosystem) draw slightly less at 0.2-0.4 watts because these protocols were designed specifically for low-power smart home devices. Bluetooth bulbs fall somewhere in between.

Calculating the Real Cost: Single Bulb to Whole Home

Let us do the math so you know exactly what smart bulb standby power costs.

The formula: Standby watts x 24 hours x 365 days / 1000 = annual kWh. Then multiply by your electricity rate.

Single bulb example (0.4 watts standby):

• 0.4W x 24 hours x 365 days = 3,504 watt-hours = 3.5 kWh per year
• At $0.16/kWh (US national average): 3.5 x $0.16 = $0.56 per year

10 smart bulbs throughout a home:

• 10 x 3.5 kWh = 35 kWh per year
• At $0.16/kWh: 35 x $0.16 = $5.60 per year

20 smart bulbs in a larger home:

• 20 x 3.5 kWh = 70 kWh per year
• At $0.16/kWh: 70 x $0.16 = $11.20 per year

For comparison, a regular non-smart LED bulb uses zero electricity when turned off at the switch because it has no wireless radio. However, it also cannot be controlled remotely, scheduled, or dimmed by voice command. That missing functionality is what the $0.56 per year per bulb pays for.

If you live in a state with higher electricity rates (like California at roughly $0.30/kWh or Connecticut at $0.29/kWh), double the numbers above. Even at the highest US rates, 10 smart bulbs in standby costs under $12 per year.

Comparing Smart Bulbs to Non-Smart LEDs

When people ask about smart bulb electricity usage, the standby question is only half the picture. The other half is whether smart bulbs use more power than regular LEDs when actually illuminated.

The answer: they are essentially the same. A 60-watt equivalent smart LED bulb draws about 8-10 watts when fully on, which is comparable to a standard non-smart LED bulb of the same brightness (800 lumens). The wireless radio adds less than 0.5 watts to the “on” power consumption — a difference so small it is within the normal variation between any two bulb brands.

Where smart bulbs actually save energy compared to regular bulbs is in how they are used:

• Smart scheduling turns lights off automatically when you forget. If a regular bulb stays on for 3 extra hours per day because nobody turned it off, that wastes far more energy than a smart bulb’s annual standby draw.
• Dimming reduces energy consumption proportionally. Running a smart bulb at 50% brightness uses roughly 50% less power than full brightness. Many people dim smart bulbs for ambient lighting in the evening, saving watts every day.
• Motion-based control ensures lights are only on when someone is in the room, eliminating waste from empty rooms.
• Away-from-home scheduling turns everything off when you leave, which a regular bulb cannot do on its own.

Industry studies estimate that smart lighting automation saves the average household 10-30% on lighting energy costs, which translates to roughly $30-100 per year depending on your home size and habits. That savings dwarfs the $5-10 annual standby cost.

How to Minimize Smart Bulb Standby Power

If you want to reduce standby consumption without losing smart functionality, here are practical strategies:

1. Choose Zigbee or Thread bulbs over Wi-Fi. The Philips Hue system uses Zigbee, and bulbs draw as little as 0.2 watts in standby. The Hue Bridge uses about 2-3 watts, but it serves your entire bulb network, so the per-bulb overhead is minimal if you have 5 or more bulbs.

2. Use smart switches instead of smart bulbs in some fixtures. A smart switch controls the entire fixture circuit and draws about 0.5-1 watt in standby regardless of how many bulbs are on the circuit. For a bathroom vanity with 4 bulbs, one smart switch uses less standby power than 4 individual smart bulbs.

3. Group bulbs efficiently. If you have a room with 3 smart bulbs, consider replacing them with 1 smart bulb and 2 regular LEDs on a smart switch. You keep the color capabilities of the smart bulb and reduce standby draw.

4. Buy from reputable brands. Quality smart bulbs like Philips Hue, LIFX, and Nanoleaf are engineered for efficient standby operation. Cheap no-name bulbs sometimes draw 1-2 watts in standby due to poor circuit design — four times more than a well-engineered bulb.

5. Use occupancy-based automations. The less time a smart bulb spends turned on unnecessarily, the more the standby cost is offset by active-use savings.

What We Recommend

The standby power draw of smart bulbs is a legitimate concern, but the numbers show it is a negligible cost — roughly the price of one coffee per year for an entire home of 10 smart bulbs. For the best balance of low standby power and excellent smart features, we recommend Philips Hue bulbs with the Hue Bridge. The Zigbee-based system draws minimal standby power (0.2-0.4 watts per bulb), offers class-leading reliability, and supports HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home, and Matter. The energy savings from smart scheduling, dimming, and automation will more than pay for both the standby electricity and the cost of the bulbs themselves within the first year or two of use.