How Much Do Holiday Lights Add To Your Electric Bill?
‘Tis the season for bright lights, holiday decor, and maybe sky-high electric bills? Have you ever thought to yourself “how much extra is my holiday light display costing me this month?” One can’t be blamed for thinking this way, particularly if you’re one of those awesome folks who over-decorate to please the rest of us. Check out some of the amazingly decorated homes at www.CaliforniaChrsitmasLights.com and see what I mean (you can find them under the “Community” tab on the front page of www.kuic.com). It turns out there’s an easy way to figure out roughly how much extra your illuminating holiday decorations are going to cost you: It comes down to which type of lights you use. If you have modern-day LED lights that are one for around six hours a day, that will cost you less than a dollar (I’ve appropriated this math from a third source; feel free to Google it to confirm). A similar-sized string of incandescent lights will cost about $3-5 over the same time span, according to my appropriated math source. Multiply those numbers by how many strands of lights you put up, and you can figure out the impact on your electricity bill. No one is going to accuse me of going all-out with lights at my home, but me and my budget-minded spouse think we do just fine with three strings of lights, one row of candy canes, one inflatable Corgi and adjoining Santa Taco Truck. Happy Holidays, people 🙂
John Young
