How Much Do Those Christmas Lights Increase Texans Electric Bills?
We've done it, transformed our homes into our personal Christmas holiday sanctuary. Our decorated Christmas trees, wreaths, garland and other decorations adorn the inside of our homes with cherished memories. Because our Christmas spirit can't be contained, we decorate the outside of our homes with lights too!
Many East Texans hang Christmas lights and garland on the exterior of our homes too. When it comes to flipping the switch to light things up, how much is it going to cost the average Texas home to power all those lights on the house, in the tree, on the garland, and wreaths?
That greatly depends upon what kind of Christmas lights you are using. There are basically two types of lights that can greatly impact how much it is going to cost you to light them - incandescent (old school lights) and LED (new school lights). Rocket Homes broke down how much it'll cost you to show off your holiday spirit in lights this year. It might surprise you that Texas is among one of the least expensive as compared to other states.
The Seasonal Cost Of Lighting A Home For The Holidays
Rocket Homes says you can greatly reduce the cost of lighting your home when you make the switch from incandescent lights to LED. In their findings, they say Texans will spend $19.59 on incandescent lights this year and those using LED lights will spend $9.11. Rocket Homes bases this off running the lights for 8 hours a day for 36 days. About the only state cheaper than Texas is Louisiana, around $17.60 for incandescent and $8.18 for LED, followed by Oklahoma and Idaho. Those in Hawaii will be paying the most, $64.55 for incandescent and $30.02 for LED. See a comparison of all the states here.
Making the switch to LEDs could cut your cost of burning those Christmas lights in half not only on the exterior of your home but throughout your home. Rocket Homes also broke it down to how much lighting that Christmas tree is going to cost you (see that here) and when you add a timer to your display you can further reduce the cost on how much it is going to cost you when it comes to showing off your Christmas spirit.
Once you have the exterior of your home all lit up, remember to send us a pic for Light Up East Texas and you could win a $500 Visa gift card too!