Joint power allocation and cell formation for energy efficient (EE) visible light communication (VLC) networks networks is described. A set of rules for clustering users and then associating all the access points (APs) to the clustered users based on a proposed metric is developed. The energy efficiency is maximized by allocating power to users based on quality of service (QoS) constraints. The present disclosure jointly allocates the power and decides which APs must participate in communication and which ones must be switched off to minimize inter-cell interference. Numerical results demonstrate a significant improvement in energy efficiency compared to the traditional methods of clustering and AP assignment.