Here's how much will it cost to run your Christmas lights this year

As the holiday season approaches, people will be excited to be digging out their decorations but might pause for thought this year when they pull out the fairy lights.Energy bills are more of a concern than ever and perhaps doing without all the Christmas lights this year could save you money.

Christmas is an expensive time of year without adding to it by covering your house in energy-draining decorations. If, however, you are determined to stick with fairy light traditions this year, we take a look at how much it will cost.

LED Christmas lights

Definitely make sure lights on your Christmas tree are LED bulbs as these will keep costs down as they use around 75% less energy than conventional bulbs to produce similar brightness levels, reports Country Living.

Lighting expert, John McAllister says that everyone will have different lights and setups but he has made an effort to give a prediction of the cost of an average tree with lights. This is based on a tree with a string of low power 3.5W lights:

Even at the capped rate of £0.34 per kWh, you're only likely to spend about 26p over the festive period. This cost is based on lighting your tree for six hours per day. If you like to keep your lights on day and night, expect it to cost between £1 and £3to run your tree's lights.

Other experts have predicted costs at about 16p a day but that still works out at less than a fiver for the christmas period so hopefully this a Christmas tradition that we can all afford this year, as per the Metro.

Save £400 a year

Reading this you’ll probably be so relieved at how cheap running LED lights on your tree are that you might be tempted to put LEDs all over the house. Tom Cain, Technical Engineer at UltraLEDs, says this would be a good idea, as per MSN:

Based on the average household using 20 bulbs at 60 watts for five hours a day. You would typically see a saving of around £400 per year by switching to LED bulbs and/or LED strip lighting. LEDs use around 90% less energy compared to traditional lights.

Experts all agree that LEDs are miles ahead of other bulbs like halogens and compact fluorescent lamps in terms of energy consumption. So make the switch to these low energy alternatives and enjoy a relaxing Christmas with one less thing to worry about.

Sources used:

- Country Living 'How much does it cost to run Christmas tree lights?'

- MSN 'Simple switch to LED bulbs could save you up to £400 every year'

- Metro 'How much does it cost to run Christmas lights at home?'