It is very cheap today to run a 5-watt bulb for an hour.
Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
What would count as true or false
A 5 W bulb run for one hour uses 0.005 kWh. True: at typical 2026 retail electricity prices (roughly $0.05–0.50 per kWh in most markets), this costs a fraction of a cent, well under one US cent. Mostly true: the cost is trivially small but the claim's framing differs slightly. Mixed or mostly false: in common markets the cost is not negligible, for example more than a few cents. False: running such a bulb for an hour costs a substantial amount at ordinary prices.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
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E1 Electric Power Monthly - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) U.S. Energy Information Administration · 23 October 2026
“| U.S. Total | 18.16 | 17.57 | 14.47 | 13.87 | 9.64 | 8.98 | 14.86 | 14.91 | 14.87 | 14.15 |”
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E2 Average Cost per kWh of Electricity in 2026, by State Solar Hero · 26 October 2026
“The average residential electricity price in the United States was 18.16 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in August 2026, according to preliminary figures in the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Electric Power Monthly.”
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E3 Changes to energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026 Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) · 26 August 2026
“If you are on a standard variable tariff (default tariff) and pay for your electricity by Direct Debit, you will pay on average 26.32 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh).”
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E4 How many watts does an LED bulb use? UK running costs (2026) PreparedBritain · 4 November 2026
“An hour costs about 0.1p to 0.3p per bulb at 26.32p per kWh.”
Reasoning
Citing EIA preliminary data, E2 puts the U.S. average residential electricity price at 18.16 cents per kWh in August 2026. At that price, running a 5 W bulb for one hour (0.005 kWh) costs about 0.09 cents. Ofgem's price cap for October–December 2026 is 26.32p per kWh (E3), which makes the same hour about 0.13p. E4 independently estimates about 0.1p to 0.3p per bulb-hour at that UK rate. In both markets the cost is well under one cent or penny, which meets the criteria for true.
Cite this claim
Sam Altman, “It is very cheap today to run a 5-watt bulb for an hour.” (said 4 September 2026). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_ecb631adcc5d, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_ecb631adcc5d
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.