Model
Samsung QN42S90DAE
Rank #41 means 40 of the 172 television models we track cost less to run each year; the 57th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 57% of those models.
What does the Samsung QN42S90DAE cost to run per year?
Do the math and the Samsung QN42S90DAE's $24/yr puts it at rank #41 of 172, on the cheaper side of the class. Normalized for capacity, it beats 57% of television models we track, an average result for the class. At 41.5 in, it is a small television for the class, which runs 13.23 to 114.4 in; size and efficiency are the two levers behind the figure above, and this dataset does not carry a separate efficiency-factor column for this class.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Philips 55HFL5214U/27 at $24/yr runs a little cheaper and the Philips 50HFL6214U/27 at $24/yr runs a little more, a sense of how tightly models are packed at this point in the ranking. A television typically stays in service for somewhere around 7 years; over that span, the Samsung QN42S90DAE's $24/yr adds up to roughly $168 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
By the numbers
The Samsung QN42S90DAE normalized against its whole class, so each figure means something.
What it costs you over time
Running cost is an every-year number, so it compounds. At $24/yr, here is what the Samsung QN42S90DAE adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Samsung QN42S90DAE costs about $240. That is roughly $110 less than the class median, which would run closer to $350 over the same ten years.
How the Samsung QN42S90DAE compares
The television class we track runs from $3 to $117 a year. At $24/yr, it runs about $11 a year cheaper than the class median of $35, and it is about $21 a year more than the cheapest television to run at $3.
What drives its running cost
At 41.5 in, the Samsung QN42S90DAE is a small television for its class, which spans 13.23 to 114.4 in with a median of 55 in, and smaller television models generally cost less to run for the same job, all else being equal.
- Screen size. A bigger panel needs more backlight or more emissive pixels to reach the same brightness, so energy use climbs with diagonal screen size across most panel technologies.
- On-mode brightness. The picture mode you leave a TV on, vivid or eco, moves its real-world wattage more than almost anything else you control directly.
- Hours of use. ENERGY STAR's on-mode wattage figure assumes a standard number of hours per day; a TV left on longer than that, or used as ambient background noise, accumulates more of that hourly cost.
Common questions
Is the Samsung QN42S90DAE cheap to run?
Yes, relatively. At $24 a year it ranks #41 of 172 television models we track, in the cheaper part of its class to run.
How much does the Samsung QN42S90DAE cost per month?
Roughly $2.04/mo, spreading the $24/yr estimate evenly across twelve months at $0.1856/kWh. Actual monthly bills swing with your rate and usage pattern.
How is this running-cost figure calculated?
We take the model's published annual energy use of 132 kWh from ENERGY STAR and multiply it by the US average residential electricity rate of $0.1856/kWh, giving about $24 a year. It is an electricity-only estimate and does not include purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Samsung QN42S90DAE for its size?
57th percentile once size is factored in, a fairly typical result for the class.
Cheaper to run in the same class
| Rank | Model | Cost/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Philips 55HFL5214U/2754.5 in | $24 |
| 39 | Sansui LE-50TA149.31 in | $24 |
| 38 | Samsung QN42S90HAE41.5 in | $24 |
| 37 | Lg 55QNED80AU*54.6 in | $24 |
| 36 | Sansui LE-50VA149.61 in | $24 |
Source
ES_1023593_QN42S90DAE_042120240811785_9250852View certified television listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Samsung and QN42S90DAE are used here for identification only and are not endorsements. Figures are computed by WattWise Labs from public ENERGY STAR data, not measured in our own lab.