How much does an incandescent bulb cost per month in Virginia?

About $1.60 a month, assuming 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 17.55¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an incandescent bulb use?

Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.06 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $20.05 a year.

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Cost to run an incandescent bulb in Virginia (July 2026 rates)

At 17.55¢ per kilowatt-hour — Virginia's average residential price in July 2026 — running an incandescent bulb costs $19.22 a year. That is 4% less than the national average of $20.05. Virginia's residential rate is up 11.2% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $17.28 to $19.22 a year.

Per hour: 1.1¢
Per day of use: 5.3¢
Per month: $1.60
Per year: $19.22

Assumption: 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year — 110 kWh a year. A 60 W bulb producing roughly the same 800 lumens as a 9 W LED. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Virginia compares

Virginia pays 17.55¢/kWh, the 20th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 83.2¢ less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same incandescent bulb costs $13.93 a year in Louisiana and $52.56 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $38.63 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Colorado	17.00¢	$1.55	$18.62
Minnesota	17.45¢	$1.59	$19.11
Virginia	17.55¢	$1.60	$19.22
Delaware	18.48¢	$1.69	$20.24
Wisconsin	19.06¢	$1.74	$20.87

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

What else costs about the same in Virginia

Microwave$19.22 a year in VA Electric kettle$19.22 a year in VA Box fan$19.74 a year in VA

Cutting the number down

The comparison is the point: identical light, nearly seven times the electricity, for the whole life of the bulb.
Replacing the handful of bulbs that burn the most hours captures most of the available saving immediately.

Questions

How much does an incandescent bulb cost per month in Virginia?: About $1.60 a month, assuming 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 17.55¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an incandescent bulb use?: Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.06 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $20.05 a year.