Find out what it really costs to light up your home for the holidays, per night and for the whole season.
Modern LED holiday lights use a fraction of the power of older incandescent strings, but adding up total wattage across a whole display still adds up over a full holiday season.
Season Cost = (Total Watts ÷ 1000) × Hours per Night × Electricity Rate × Number of Nights
300W of lights running 6 hours/night at $0.15/kWh for 35 nights costs about $9.45 for the whole season.
It multiplies the total wattage of your light strings by hours run per day and days of the season, converts to kWh, then multiplies by your electricity rate.
Yes, significantly — LED string lights typically use a fraction of the wattage of traditional incandescent lights for similar brightness, cutting running costs substantially.
Check the packaging or a tag on the light string itself, which usually lists total wattage or watts per bulb multiplied by bulb count.