Let me guess. Someone told you an LED sign will slash your electric bill. Maybe a sales rep with a polished pitch and a slick brochure. They flashed some numbers that looked too good to ignore. I've been doing this since before LED was even a thing—I remember when neon was king and we'd swap out transformers once a month. Here's what I know after 27 years on the factory floor: most of those ROI calculators are fiction. They assume perfect conditions, premium parts, and zero maintenance. That's not the real world. But the real numbers? They're still damn good if you know what you're doing. Let me walk you through it, no BS.
Before we talk about savings, you gotta know what you're paying. I don't care if it's a channel letter sign above a strip mall or a monument in front of an office park. Every business owner I've talked to has no idea their sign is eating 8% to 15% of their total electric bill.
That's not a guess—I've audited dozens of accounts. A typical 10-letter front-lit sign running 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, with old-school neon? You're looking at about 1,200 to 1,800 watts total draw. Neon transformers are inefficient, and the gas itself needs high voltage. At $0.12 per kWh (national average commercial rate) [1], that's $1,440 to $2,160 a year just to light your name.
Here's what nobody tells you: most neon signs are actually running 20% to 30% higher wattage than rated because the transformers degrade. I've seen a 10-foot neon tube pull 150W when the spec said 90W. That's not a defect—that's aging. So yeah, your actual bill is worse than you think.
Now flip to LED
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