Before you know it, it’ll be time to get the Christmas decorations out, untangle the fairy lights, and deck the halls.

But one thing that might not put you in the festive spirit is the rising cost of living and how this might affect your ho-ho-holidays.

With everything from the cost of energy bills to the average weekly shop continually rising, many Brits may be concerned about how Christmas will impact their spending.

There are many ways families can save money on their bills going into winter, but many may not have accounted for how Christmas decorations stack up against other household appliances.

Here’s how much your home’s Christmas lights cost to run.

How much electricity do Christmas lights use?

While you can get solar and battery-powered Christmas lights, many rely on being plugged into the electricity mains to work, meaning they add to your bills.

How long you have your lights on and how many bulbs you have will affect the cost, but using nationwide averages can give you a rough idea.

According to Ideal Home, the typical UK family has their Christmas lights on for six hours per day.

On average a 100-count string of incandescent mini lights runs at 40 watts, and with most people using two strings, that adds up to 80 watts (W) or 0.08 kilowatts (kW).

If your lights were left on for six hours a day, with the electricity unit price now at 24.5p per kWh from October, that means the daily cost to run Christmas lights would be just under 12p per day.

This means that for a month, it would cost £3.53 to have Christmas lights on for six hours per day, based on the equation 0.48 (output over six hours per day) x 0.245 (cost) x 30 (days).

Bear in mind, this figure doesn’t include the 61p daily minimum standing charge, your other festive energy consumption, or your specific energy tariff.

If you want to cut costs on your decorations, using LED lights can dramatically cut your costs.

In fact, Martin Lewis claims that where incandescent lights cost 1p an hour per 100 bulbs, LED lights are far cheaper at around 1p every 12 hours for the same number of bulbs.

This article was first published on November 27, 2023.

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