How to lower your power bill while displaying holiday lights
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Lighting up the entire night might not be the wisest decision when it comes to your holiday displays.
Why it matters: Rising energy prices during the holidays have Americans second-guessing if they should scale back on decorations.
By the numbers: It costs under $20 a month to power holiday decorations for most homes, if using LED lights, said Kristina Zagame, senior researcher of home electrification at Boston-based EnergySage.
- She said LED lights cut energy use by about 70% compared to incandescent bulbs.
- Electricity bills can jump well over $100 a month if homes use incandescent lights and/or larger displays like inflatables, she said.
What they're saying: "Shutting lights off overnight matters much more if you're using incandescent bulbs or inflatables, which use far more energy," Zagame said.
Between the lines: Location also has an impact on holiday electricity bills.
- In Georgia, average household electricity bills were about $148 last December, according to a recent study from Payless Power.
- Connecticut had the highest December 2024 electricity bills ($228) and New Mexico had the lowest ($88).
Caveat: Georgia Power has about 2.5 million residential customers. The remaining state residents are serviced by either Georgia's electric membership cooperatives or municipal-run entities.
Pro tips: Georgia Power suggests switching to LED lights to save on your power bill, as the utility says they use up to 75% less energy than traditional holiday lights.
- Also consider using a timer to turn off lights late at night and during the day and ditch the inflatables to save money, Pittsburgh-based utility company Duquesne Light adds.
State of play: 17% of Americans said they plan to reduce the number of decorations due to the higher energy cost, and 8% plan to skip them altogether due to costs, according to a Payless Power survey of 1,000 Americans.
- Only 14% of respondents said they leave their holiday lights on overnight each night.
The bottom line: If you use LED lights, you can leave the lights on all night with little guilt. But if you have older incandescent displays and go all out with inflatables, turn them off at night to save significant cash.