Price Your Trade Stand's Power Before the Venue Prices It For You — Free
Venue electricity is billed per kilowatt-hour at a rate that arrives in the exhibitor manual on page 34, and most stands are built without anyone adding up the fridge, the three LED panels, the screen and the coffee machine. This chart does the adding: the daily draw, the monthly figure, the cost per show day, the annual cost, and — if you enter a lower-wattage alternative — what swapping it saves and how long the swap takes to pay back.
The proof surface
Free path: the chart computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A kit list has no arithmetic in it, so a 2,400-watt stand looks like four items rather than a bill. Turning the same list into watts x hours x the venue's rate makes the cost per show day visible, and shows that the coffee machine is doing more damage than the lighting rig.
How to use the trade stand power chart in four passes
The screen, the fridge, the coffee machine, the laptop bricks, the heater under the counter and the strip lights in the store cupboard. Rated wattage is on the label or in the manual; use it rather than guessing.
Exhibitor power is billed at the hall's rate, often with a connection charge on top. The rate is in the manual or on the power order form, and it is usually two to four times a domestic tariff.
An induction urn instead of a percolator, LED panels instead of halogen, one screen instead of two. The chart prices the saving per year and tells you the payback against whatever the swap costs.
Rates, hall hours and your own kit change. A chart per show is a budget line you can put in the stand proposal instead of a figure you discover in the invoice afterwards.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Northern Manufacturing Expo · 10–12 Feb 2027 · Hall 2 stand D41 · 2,400 watts · nine hours a day · venue rate £0.42 per kWh · swap to 1,150 watts. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Using running watts instead of rated watts
A fridge cycles and a coffee machine surges. Rated wattage on the label is the figure to add up; an average measured on a meter will understate the peak the venue charges for.
Forgetting the connection charge
Most halls bill a fixed supply or connection fee on top of the kWh. The chart prices the energy; the invoice will have another line on it.
Pricing the swap against one show
A £300 LED panel change does not pay back at one three-day show. The annual figure is the one to judge it against, which is why the chart prints it.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| The venue's own power estimate | Arrives after the order form, sometimes after the show | an invoice nobody budgeted for |
| An exhibitor-services contractor | They will design and meter the stand's power for you | a day rate plus the connection charge |
| Running a generator outdoors | Fuel, hire, noise limits and a neighbour's complaint | a hire plus diesel at show prices |
| This page + the free trade stand power chart | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free trade stand power chart
A 2,400-watt stand is already priced at nine hours a day against a £0.42 venue rate, with the annual bar the longest and the 1,150-watt swap's saving plotted in the second accent. Raise the rate to 0.71 and every bar grows.
Open the free trade stand power chart →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every figure, the venue rate, the swap saving and the payback, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This multiplies the figures you type in; it is not an electrical calculation, it cannot verify a venue's tariff or connection charges, and it ignores surge, diversity and distribution losses. Check the rated wattage against each item's label, the rate against the exhibitor manual, and have any temporary electrical installation signed off by a qualified person.