How much electricity does an indoor garden use? A plain-English guide

A Gardyn Home 4 uses about 47 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a month, and the smaller Gardyn Studio 2 uses about 26. That is less than the typical main refrigerator, and at the national average rate a Home 4 costs about $8.61 a month to run, or roughly 28 cents a day.

If that sentence lost you at “kilowatt-hours,” you are in good company. Most of us only think about electricity when the bill arrives. This guide explains it in plain English, compares an indoor garden with the appliances already in your kitchen, and shows what it costs in five of the biggest cities in the country.

Key takeaways

• Gardyn Home 4 uses about 47 kWh a month, a little over 5% of what the average American home buys.
• Gardyn Studio 2 uses about 26 kWh a month.
• A Home 4 uses less than a typical main refrigerator, a clothes dryer or the lights in your home.
• At the July 2026 national average rate, a Home 4 costs about $8.61 a month to run and a Studio 2 about $4.76.
• Where you live matters: Texas rates average less than half of California’s.
• Split across 30 plants, a Home 4 costs roughly 29 cents per plant per month at the national average.

Electricity 101: what a kilowatt-hour actually is

Your electric bill charges you for kilowatt-hours. A kilowatt-hour is simply a measure of how much electricity something uses over time.

• A watt is how much power something draws at any given moment. An old-style light bulb might be 60 watts.
• A kilowatt is 1,000 watts.
• A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is 1,000 watts used for one hour.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts it this way: run a 40-watt bulb for five hours and you have used 0.2 kWh (EIA).

Here is the easiest way to picture a Gardyn. Spread across a whole month, 47 kWh works out to an average draw of about 64 watts. That is a little more than one old-fashioned 60-watt bulb left on day and night, all month long, while growing 30 plants.

How an indoor garden compares with your kitchen and home

A Gardyn Home 4 uses less electricity in a month than the refrigerator it helps you fill. The averages below come from the Energy Information Administration’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, the government’s largest study of how American homes use energy.

For the big picture, the average American home bought about 899 kWh of electricity a month in 2022 (EIA). A Gardyn Home 4 is a little over 5% of that. Gardyn figures come from Gardyn’s product specifications.

The difference is what you get back. A refrigerator keeps food cold. A Gardyn grows it: lettuce, herbs, greens and vegetables, harvested minutes before you eat them.

What it costs to run a Gardyn where you live

Electricity prices vary a lot by state, and California’s average residential rate is about twice Texas’s. The government no longer publishes electricity prices for individual cities, so the table below uses each state’s average residential rate for July 2026 from the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly as a stand-in for the five largest U.S. metro areas. Your utility’s rate may be higher or lower.

At the U.S. average, that is about 28 cents a day for a Home 4. Here is what a full year of a Home 4, and a month of the smaller Studio 2, looks like in the same places:

Yearly figures assume July’s rate all year. Rates often change with the seasons, so your annual cost may be somewhat lower.

Your own rate is printed on your electric bill, usually as “cents per kWh” or “price per kWh.” To find your cost, multiply that rate by 47. For example, 47 × $0.20 = $9.40 a month.

What that buys you

At the national average, about 29 cents a month keeps each of your 30 plants growing under full-spectrum LED light. That is a fraction of the $1.78 a half-ounce clamshell of fresh basil costs at Walmart (October 2026). For the full math on what a Gardyn saves at the store, see Is a Gardyn worth the investment? The honest economics.

Will an indoor garden raise my electric bill?

A little, and predictably. Most of a Gardyn’s electricity goes to its LED grow lights, which do the job the sun does outdoors. Because the lights run on an automated schedule, usage stays fairly predictable from month to month, though your utility’s rates may change by season.

To put it in perspective, a Gardyn Home 4 uses about the same electricity as a stand-alone freezer and less than a main refrigerator, a clothes dryer or household lighting. If your bill runs $150 a month, a Home 4 at the national average adds roughly $8 to $9 of it, and a Studio 2 about $5.

Ready to see what you could grow? See how Gardyn works.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much electricity does a Gardyn use?

A Gardyn Home 4 uses about 47 kWh a month, which works out to about 1.5 kWh a day. A Gardyn Studio 2 uses about 26 kWh a month.

How much does it cost to run a Gardyn per month?

About $8.61 at the July 2026 national average rate of 18.31 cents per kWh. In California it is closer to $15.80, and in Texas closer to $7.46.

Does an indoor garden use more electricity than a refrigerator?

No. The average main refrigerator uses about 51 kWh a month, compared with about 47 kWh for a Gardyn Home 4.

What uses the most electricity in an indoor garden?

The grow lights. Plants need many hours of strong light a day to grow indoors, so the lights account for most of the energy.

How do I figure out my exact cost?

Find the price per kWh on your electric bill and multiply it by 47. At 20 cents per kWh, that is $9.40 a month.