Will LED Christmas Lights Really Save You Money?

You’re probably noticing more LED Christmas lights in stores and on homes this season. There are several reasons why people may opt for LED lights over traditional bulbs – but is saving money one of them?

LED lights reportedly save you 85% on your energy costs. So let’s do a few calculations.

Suppose you want to keep your decorating relatively simple and use only ten strands of 100-bulb “traditional” miniature lights. If you keep them lit for 12 hours a day throughout the month of December, you would see your electric bill rise by an average of about $13.34. So if you chose LED lights instead, your 15% savings would net you a whopping $2.

But let’s say you wanted to add ten strands of 25-bulb “big” lights, which use about three times more power than the mini lights. Then your average additional cost would be $55.02 for the month under the same conditions – saving you $8.25 if you swapped them out for LED lights. That’s a little better.

Now, if you choose to go all out with 50 strands of mini lights and 50 strands of “big bulb” lights (none of which are LED lights), you’d shell out an extra $275.08 for your December power bill on average. So converting your yuletide scene to full LED would save you $41.26 – which could be used to buy another gift or two for your family.

It all depends on how important saving money is to you.