Before you start untangling the Christmas Lights, have you considered the cost of having them in and around your property?
We’ve talked about ways to save money in previous articles, but a lot of people forget to weigh up the potential savings from not having Christmas Lights up! We aren’t trying to spoil your Christmas but read this article and make the choice which is right for you.
How much electricity do Christmas Lights actually use?
You have multiple options with lights, some external lights are solar or battery-powered. If you’re anything like us at HRHislop, you most likely have the same 5-10-year-old lights which use mains power.
As with everything, the length of time they’re plugged in and turned on for will affect how much you’re paying. According to Ideal Home, the average family home has their Christmas lights on for 5-6 hours a day.
What does this equate to?
We’re basing these figures off of a standard 100-bulb string of mini lights… They use approximately 40 watts, with most people using two-three sets, that can add up to a total of 120 watts or 0.12kW (for three sets).
If your Christmas Lights are left on for 5 hours a day, with the standard electricity price being 34p per kWh from October, this means the cost to run those lights would be 20p per day, or £6.12 a month.
If you want to work it out for your set-up, see how many watts your lights use (this should be on the power supply or found online) then divide this number by 1000 to get your kW figure (120 watts = 0.12kW, 80 watts = 0.08kW). Next, multiply this figure by the number of hours you anticipate the lights being on for (in our example we multiplied by 5… 0.12kW x 5 = 0.6kW) then finally multiply by your home’s electricity rate (0.6kW x 0.34p/kW = 0.20p/day), this will calculate the daily amount. Multiply this by the number of days, 30 in our example (0.20p x 30 = £6.12/month).
According to USwitch, the average home turns their lights on from the 26th of November until the 7th of January, which is 43 days. Using our example of 0.12kW for 5 hours a day it would cost £8.77.
Conclusion
With all that in mind, that’s just for the lights around your tree. If you have multiple different decorations plugged in around your property, this can add up! One way to save some pennies is to change to newer LED lights which use less power.
If this doesn’t phase you and you’re wanting your lights put up outside your house, or need an external socket, give us a call or use our virtual quote!
Try our Virtual Quote or Contact Us today!
