March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Big-screen TV addicts: The government wants to warn you of the watts you burn watching March Madness.

For the first time, regulators propose that television manufacturers be required to tell consumers the estimated annual energy costs for that 72-inch digital beauty.

The $173 billion consumer electronics industry has been working to reduce electricity use. Still, the numbers may raise eyebrows and energy bills since some new models use as much juice annually as your refrigerator.

The Federal Trade Commission is devising an energy label that would help consumers make kilowatt costs part of their purchasing decision. “Televisions have a huge range of energy consumption,” said James Kohm, associate director of the FTC’s enforcement division. “This will allow consumers to see the true cost of the TV.”

Americans are increasingly concerned about energy costs, and the Obama administration has made reductions in electrical consumption and the promotion of renewable energy part of its stimulus and recovery plan. California may prohibit televisions that consume too much energy from being sold at all.

That doesn’t mean sales of televisions are likely to drop nationwide or screens will suddenly shrink. Rather, the energy consumption information may drive more innovation in the industry.

Samsung Electronics Co. of Suwan, South Korea, Vizio Inc. of Irvine, California, and Sony Corp. of Tokyo were the top three in sales in the U.S. market for flat-panel televisions in last year’s fourth quarter, according to industry research firm ISuppli Corp.

The Yellow Label

Under the FTC rulemaking, televisions and other home electronics would get some yet-to-be-determined version of the “EnergyGuide” label already found on home appliances, lighting and plumbing products. The yellow label for those products shows estimated annual operating costs and the highest and lowest costs for comparable equipment.

The last energy standard for televisions was set some 30 years ago for black-and-white, cathode-ray tube sets. Are you old enough to remember those big rabbit ears and little pictures?

So there’s no measurement like the EnergyGuide label for the 346.3 million modern television sets now in American homes, even though they account for about 5 percent of annual residential energy expenditures and are among the biggest electricity eaters in the home.

“People have no idea how much these electronic toys consume,” said Noah Horowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “We think it’s a travesty TVs have not been regulated. And, it’s not only the TV. It’s the gadgets connected to them,” including gaming devices, satellite boxes, and digital video recorders such as TiVo.

Energy Consumption

Horowitz said the NRDC lobbied hard to bring energy consumption labeling to televisions because of the projected increase in sales and average screen size of TVs in the next few years and the lack of regulation to keep energy hogs off the market.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group based in Arlington, Virginia, 33 million televisions were shipped last year and 39 million will be in 2012.

The number of liquid-crystal display screens that are more than 40 inches wide are likely to increase from 9.3 million shipped in 2008 to 17 million in 2012, the association said.

Many current televisions already meet voluntary energy- efficiency standards set by the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Energy Star

That program, called Energy Star, covers all types of consumer products. Manufacturers that participate produce models that use 30 percent less energy than those that don’t. There are 450 television models that carry the Energy Star mark.

“Energy consumption is going up because they are getting bigger and bigger, even though the units themselves are more efficient,” said Maria Vargas, EPA spokeswoman for the Energy Star program. “You can build an energy-efficient McMansion but is it as energy efficient as a small house? No.”

EPA increased the standards manufacturers have to meet for the program late last year, Vargas said. Savings in energy costs would reach $1 billion if all TVs sold met the new goals, the agency said then.

Yesterday the EPA announced that in order for computer monitors, digital picture frames and large commercial digital displays to earn the Energy Star label, their products would have to be 20 percent more energy efficient than conventional options.

‘Trend Toward Efficiency’

Douglas Johnson, senior director of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Association, said “there is a natural trend toward efficiency” in the industry because of technological innovation and the Energy Star program.

While manufacturers support disclosing the cost of energy used by televisions, details on how consumers will get this information haven’t been worked out, Johnson said.

Electronics shoppers now do most of their research on the Internet, suggesting that might be the best place for the information, Johnson said. Consumer advocates want energy costs on the product in the store as well.

In the meantime, the association is trying to head off the California proposal to restrict the sale of some big screens.

“The television is the centerpiece of home entertainment,” said Johnson. “Consumers want what they want.”

(Cindy Skrzycki is a regulatory columnist for Bloomberg News. She can be reached at cskrzycki@bloomberg.net.)

To contact the writer of this column: Cindy Skrzycki at cskrzycki@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 31, 2009 00:00 EDT