Martin Lewis shares easy way to work out cost of running Christmas lights
Martin Lewis has shared his ‘rule of thumb’ for calculating how much your Christmas lights will cost to run during the festive season, which could help you choose when to switch them on each day. During this week’s Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV, the consumer champion explained that the cost comes down to whether the lights are LED or incandescent.
Martin told viewers: “Here’s my rule of thumb based on the new energy price cap. LED lights - one pence per 12 hours, per 100 bulbs, incandescents - 12 times as much, so, 12 pence per 12 hours, per 100 bulbs. If you run them for six hours, per 100 bulbs, it’s roughly 15p per month for LED and £1.80 for incandescent.
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“LED are a lot cheaper, but they’re not that expensive to run, so if you want your sparkles you can have them with my blessing this year.”
It’s worth noting that bigger sets of lights, with more bulbs, would use more energy and cost more.
MoneySavingExpert.com takes it one step further in this week’s newsletter. If you want to work out the exact cost per set of lights - including lighted displays and decorations - find the wattage and multiply by 24.5p (the current average Price Cap rate for electricity) then multiply by the number of hours you plan to have them on for and divide by 1,000 (as there are 1,000 watts in a kilowatt).
To see which type of lights you have, first check if the bulbs are glass or plastic - Incandescent lights are usually made of glass and get hot when they've been left on for a while - you may also be able to see a filament inside.
LEDs are generally made of plastic and are cool to touch and if you have the packaging, some boxes show the lights' wattage, which you can use to work out the costs.
Should you switch to LED lights?
MSE.com says that if you're only concerned about the cost of electricity, you should make the switch. However, there's the upfront cost of buying new lights to think about.
To give you an idea, their team of experts found that a string of 100 LED lights typically cost around £5, while a larger 20-metre string of outdoor rope lights might set you back £15 or more.
MSE.com said: “You'd likely save in the long-run if you're planning to use the lights year after year, as LED lights also last a lot longer (up to 50 times) than incandescent bulbs and are cheaper to run.
“But if you've incandescent bulbs, and money's tight this Christmas, you're likely better to ration how often you turn the Christmas lights on than shelling out to replace them.”
You can read the full guide on MSE.com here.
