Key Takeaways
- Texas families use Christmas lights that greatly influence electricity usage and costs.
- Incandescent lights consume significantly more energy than LED lights, costing up to 90 times more.
- For multiple light strands, households can save considerably by switching to LEDs.
- Pogo Energy offers pay-as-you-go electricity plans to help manage holiday electricity usage and spending.
- Simple lighting changes can help families save money while decorating for Christmas.
Many Texas families decorate for Christmas with strands of lights. The type of lights and the number of strings you put up determine how much electricity you will use over the month. To help you stay within your budget, we are going to break down the cost of having Christmas lights. Pogo customers get pay-as-you-go electricity to help control their spending by adjusting their usage based on their daily usage.
The real savings between incandescent and LED lights
The most common types of Christmas lights today are incandescent and LED. If you are like me, you are a big-time believer in recycling and reusing what you can. Unfortunately, using incandescent lights may not save you money in the long (or short) run. Let’s say that you are an Ebenezer Scrooge and only put up one string of lights. One 100-count string of incandescent mini lights runs at 40 watts. One 70-count string of LEDs runs approximately 4.8 watts total. Replacing incandescent lights can cost 90 times as much as LEDs.
Manage your electricity usage and bill increase
Most people use more than one string of lights to show their Christmas spirit. A household that uses 10 strings of lights will spend $10.00 to $15.00 per month (if using mini incandescent lights). That same household would spend $1.50 to $2.50 with the same amount of LED lights. If you are like one of Pogo Energy’s Christmas-obsessed employees whose houses can be seen glowing from outer space, the savings is even more dramatic. She uses 7 strands of icicle lights, 4 strings of lights to cover the fence in her front yard, 2 strings on the porch, 25 strings to wrap the trees in her front yard, 10 strings draped from the branches, 5 strings to outline flower beds, 4 strings to outline the roof of her house, a big inflatable Santa, and light up candy canes (we might need to plan an intervention). With incandescent lights, her electricity cost increases from $250.00 to $305.00 for the month. The same amount of LED lights would cost her $35.00 to $42.00.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that incandescent lights will cost you more money year after year when compared to LED lights. All we’re saying is that Christmas lights are awesome, but decorating with them can end up costing you. Stay in control and save money this holiday season. Learn the truth about how much your Christmas cheer is costing you. Simple adjustments and changing your everyday habits can help you save money during the winter months.
Happy Holidays from everyone at Pogo Energy!