the Cost of Christmas

Okay, so while I was researching I also decided to see how much it actually costs to turn on Christmas lights. Lots of people wonder about this, so if you are one of them I've done all the work for you. Just plug your info into the equation. To find out energy costs, use the following:

WATTS x HOURS ÷ 1000 = Kilo Watt Hours (KWH)
KWH x RATE = COST

It took some research, but I finally found a site that gave the exact watts each light bulb uses. Mini bulbs (like icicle lights, Christmas tree lights, etc.) use .4 watts each. Large bulbs depend on the specific bulbs, C-7 bulbs (regular big bulbs) use 5 watts each and C-9 bulbs (the big bulbs with pointy, twisted tips, like elf ears) use 7 watts. I have the following lights, all of them are mini bulbs:

1200 bulb icicle lights (300 bulbs ea x 4 strands)
600 bulb string light on the trees (100 bulbs ea x 6 strands)
450 bulb net lights (150 bulbs ea x 3 strands)
------
2250 bulbs x .4 watts each = 900 WATTS

(Those are all outside, inside I also have a 400 bulb tree and a 150 bulb garland, but I don't plug them in with any regularity.) I run my lights for 4 hours a day, 30 days a month, which is 120 HOURS total.

900 WATTS x 120 HOURS ÷ 1000 = 108 KWH

Now the current rate for electricity in Utah is 8.18 cents per KWH (.0818 dollars). You can find your own rate here if you live in another state.

108 KWH x .0818 RATE/DOLLARS = $8.83 a month

Not too bad, considering that I have quite a bit of lights out there!! Last year we only had the icicle lights on the house, so it cost us $4.71 a month. No complaints here. That is a lot cheaper than I thought it would be!