How much electricity does a hydroponic vegetable garden consume?

A horticultural lamp that runs for several hours a day.

A pump that circulates water.

Possibly Wi-Fi or a smart plug.

The question eventually always comes up:

how much does a hydroponic vegetable garden really add to your electricity bill?

The answer obviously depends on the model.

But it is quite easy to get an order of magnitude without pulling out an engineer's calculator.

And above all, small hydroponic gardens generally use low-power equipment compared to many household appliances.

Where does the electricity consumption come from?

In an indoor hydroponic garden, two elements are the main electricity consumers:

horticultural lighting and the water pump.

On models equipped with a lamp, it is usually the lighting that accounts for the majority of the consumption.

The role of the pump is different: it circulates water and nutrients around the roots. Its power is often significantly lower than that of the lamp.

A third element may exist depending on the device: control electronics, Wi-Fi, a timer, or a smart plug.

Its consumption generally remains secondary compared to the first two items.

How can you calculate the consumption yourself?

The calculation is based on three pieces of information:

• the power of the device in watts;
• the number of hours it runs;
• the price of the kilowatt-hour paid under your contract.

Let’s take a 20 W lamp used for 14 hours a day.

20 W corresponds to 0.020 kW.

Every day:

0.020 × 14 = 0.28 kWh

Over 30 days:

0.28 × 30 = 8.4 kWh

The lamp therefore consumes about 8.4 kWh per month in this example.

You then multiply this value by your electricity supplier's rate.

With a round price of €0.20 per kWh, this would represent approximately:

8.4 × €0.20 = €1.68 per month.

The actual rate obviously depends on your contract.

At the beginning of 2026, the CRE indicated a variable price of around 19.4 cents including tax/kWh for certain regulated Base-option offers, then announced an average change in regulated tariffs on August 1, 2026. Using approximately €0.20/kWh is therefore a practical order of magnitude, not a universal rate.

Concrete example: the Verdia One

Let's now take a real device.

The Verdia One currently uses a 20 W LED horticultural lamp. Belverdia recommends about 14 hours of daily lighting in its regular cycle.

We therefore get the 8.4 kWh per month calculated previously for the lamp.

The pump also consumes energy, but much less. It operates in cycles rather than constantly.

The current specification for the Verdia One estimates the total consumption of the device, lamp and pump included, at around 10 kWh per month in typical use.

At about €0.20/kWh:

10 kWh represents about €2 of electricity per month.

This is obviously an estimate.

The lighting time, the operation of the pump, and your actual electricity rate can change the result.

But the order of magnitude is enough to answer the essential question:

no, the lamp of a small indoor garden does not correspond to a large professional horticultural installation.

Why can an LED stay on for a long time without blowing the bill?

Fourteen hours of lighting may seem huge.

However, what counts in your consumption is not just the duration.

It is:

duration × power.

A 20 W lamp running for 14 hours does not consume the same as a 2,000 W appliance running for the same amount of time.

It is precisely for this reason that looking only at the number of hours can be misleading.

Another very simple example:

a 20 W lamp would need to run for 50 hours to consume 1 kWh.

The duration of use is therefore important, but the low power of compact horticultural LEDs completely changes the order of magnitude.

And the Verdia Mini?

The Verdia Mini is even more compact.

Its currently stated power is 15 W, with full-spectrum LED lighting, a pump, and a 1.6 L reservoir.

Its consumption therefore also remains in the world of small electrical appliances.

Be careful, however, not to blindly apply the Verdia One lamp calculation to the 15 W of the Mini.

The 15 W corresponds to the power indicated for the device, and not necessarily to a single lamp running constantly at full power.

To know your actual consumption to the nearest cent, the best solution remains a small power meter plugged in between the outlet and the device.

It measures directly what is actually consumed.

What about a large vertical garden?

The Verdia Plus works differently.

It does not have integrated horticultural lighting.

Its main electrical equipment is currently a 7 W DC pump that circulates water through its six levels of cultivation. The smart plug allows you to program its operation.

If a 7 W pump were actually running 24 hours a day for 30 days, it would consume about:

0.007 × 24 × 30 = 5.04 kWh per month.

With programming that reduces its operating time, consumption drops proportionally.

But you have to be careful with the comparison.

The Verdia Plus relies more on the light available in its environment since it does not have integrated horticultural LEDs.

If you add horticultural lighting yourself, this consumption will have to be added to that of the pump.

In other words, comparing only the electricity consumption of the three devices would not make much sense without also comparing their usage.

Should you turn off the lamp to save money?

Not at the expense of the plants.

The lamp is not a decorative element.

In a home where natural light is not enough, it provides the energy necessary for their growth.

Arbitrarily reducing the cycle just to save a few cents can therefore end up degrading growing conditions.

The best strategy is not:

"How can I run my lamp for as little time as possible?"

But rather:

"What duration is really suitable for the plants I am growing?"

Then, use a timer or your device's programming functions to avoid letting the lamp run unnecessarily outside the scheduled cycle.

---

Should you use natural light instead?

When you have a very bright location, natural light can obviously contribute to lighting your plants.

But it is not always regular.

Season, weather, window orientation, and the distance between the plant and the glass significantly change the amount of light available.

A garden equipped with a horticultural LED makes it possible to stabilize this parameter.

You therefore do not necessarily have an interest in systematically turning off its lamp just because it is nice outside.

For systems designed with their own lighting cycle, follow the device's manual as a priority and observe the plants' needs.

How to know what your garden is really consuming?

If you want to go beyond theoretical estimates, there is a particularly simple solution:

the plug-in power meter.

You plug the power meter into the wall.

Then your garden into the power meter.

After a few days, the device can tell you the consumption actually recorded.

This includes:

• the phases where the lamp is running;
• pump cycles;
• shutdown periods;
• the system's electronics.

You then obtain a measurement that is much more representative of your own usage.

This is also convenient if you change the lighting cycle or the pump programming.

How much does this represent over a year?

Let’s go back to the Verdia One order of magnitude: about 10 kWh per month in typical use according to its current specification.

Over twelve months:

10 × 12 = 120 kWh.

With our simple assumption of €0.20/kWh:

120 × €0.20 = about €24 per year.

Once again, this is not a bill guarantee.

Your price per kWh may be different, and your device may not operate exactly like this all year long.

But this provides a much more concrete scale than "the lamp stays on for 14 hours".

→ Discover Belverdia hydroponic gardens 

Electricity consumption and profitability: beware of shortcuts

Another question often arises behind the electricity one:

"Do the harvests pay for the garden?"

That is not a promise we would make.

The quantity harvested depends enormously on:

• the plants;
• density;
• light;
• the duration of the crops;
• their maintenance;
• how you harvest.

Reducing an indoor garden to a "price of harvested tomatoes vs. electricity bill" calculation would miss part of the subject.

We also grow to:

• have herbs at hand;
• choose our varieties;
• observe our plants growing;
• garden without an outdoor space;
• harvest when we are cooking.

Electricity consumption therefore remains a cost to understand, not a reason to promise profitability that would depend on too many parameters.

So, does a hydroponic garden consume a lot?

For small domestic models, the main item is generally the horticultural lamp.

But a 15 or 20 W LED remains low-power equipment.

The right reflex is simply to look at:

actual power + number of operating hours + your electricity rate.

In the current case of the Verdia One, Belverdia estimates typical usage at around 10 kWh per month, or about €2 per month with an electricity price close to €0.20/kWh.

It is not zero.

But it is also not a professional greenhouse hidden on your countertop.

And if you want to know your exact figure?

Plug in a power meter for a few days.

This time, you won't need to estimate anymore.