Keep Bills Low with Energy-Efficient Christmas Lights

More so than ever, energy prices and the cost of living are forcing many of us to rethink what we do and where we can save money. For some, that means thinking about the amount of Christmas lights and decorations they have, and for how long the lights will stay on. Winter is already a time when energy bills soar, with the colder temperatures outside and longer nights, the extra time spent at home over the season; it all adds up and with many people choosing whether they can heat or eat, something has to give.

It’s a real dilemma. For many people Christmas isn’t the same without the decorations and lovely lights twinkling throughout the day. Can you imagine a tree not decorated in twinkly fairy lights, or not having that one house in the street that goes all out for the season, or the other neighbours up and down the street that like to create their own little outdoor décor scenes with reindeer and snowmen, all lit up in the front garden to spready joy and cheer throughout the season? For many it’s not even a choice, this is what Christmas is all about. Many of us would choose to have a lovely festive home and decorations to spread hope and cheer, even with the recent increases in energy bills.

Many people right now do have a fear that the Christmas lights will add hundreds of pounds to their bills this year. Although it is a challenging time right now, thankfully it still doesn’t cost all that much more to run LED Christmas lights, even for the whole festive season. In fact, running a typical set of 1000 of our festive LED lights would cost you under £1! Read on to find out more.

If you haven’t already, making a complete switch to LED lights and decorations will make it far cheaper to run Christmas lights from December to January. According to Uswitch, the average home usually puts their Christmas lights and décor up from about December 9^th to January 4^th, so that’s almost a month of decorations, perhaps over a month for some that put them up earlier. LEDs are said to use around just 10% of the energy of non-LED lights so although there’s an initial cost, they’ll cost far less in the long run and last for years – LEDs can last up to 20 times longer than standard incandescent or halogen bulbs. So, a good investment.

When using LED lights, indoors and outdoors, the answer is no, they don’t use all that much extra electricity. Relatively speaking to typical energy usage in the home for lighting, appliances, internet, phone charging and so on, the cost to also run Christmas lights and décor both indoors and even outdoors on top is very low.

Depending on the number of lights you are running, the number of hours they are on each day, what date you put them up, and then take them down, can vary the cost. Overall, powering the additional Christmas tree lights, and even outdoor lights on top doesn’t add that much extra to what the bill would otherwise be. Certainly not hundreds which is a fear many people have right now. In fact, it’s likely to be pennies!

We estimate for a 1000 LED compact bulb set from one of our suppliers covering a tree 6ft to 7ft, running for 8 hours per day for 30 days will cost just 75p. That works out at about 2.5p per day. We have based this on current energy rates and prices as well as the average wattage ratings of Christmas lights from our suppliers.

Naturally this will be different for many households who may have two trees, or a combination of trees and outdoor lighting. However even with a few more sets of LED lights indoors and out won’t cause excessive energy costs this Christmas.

Everyone is feeling the cost-of-living squeeze just now, and it’s great to know you can still enjoy the spirit of Christmas without the worry that your lights are burning through cash. Putting up wonderful Christmas lights is more than worth it for the sheer joy it brings us and our families. Our example above even leaves room to wiggle, you could keep the lights up for only 25 days instead of 30 and keep them on for just 6 hours each day instead of 8. Hopefully knowing this offers some peace of mind that if you do choose to run that extra set of Christmas lights, it won’t cost hundreds extra.