The Electricity Cost of Running a Christmas Light Display
Steve
Twigger, from ETSA, has provided an interesting breakdown of the cost of running
various types of household Christmas Lights.
Modern low voltage (12 – 24 volt) Christmas lighting uses far less electricity than older styles of lighting (festoon - large coloured globes).
The
following will allow you to approximate the running costs of each type of
lighting.
First
obtain the Wattage of the lights;
- For
low voltage lighting, i.e. where the lights are powered through a
transformer or plug pack, the rating (W or VA) will be written on the
transformer / plug pack.
(Generally between 20 and 100 Watts or VA)
For low voltage lights directly connected to 240 volts the wattage will be on the box. - For
240 Volt festoon lights add together the wattage of the globes (as marked on
the top of the bulb) (A typical string is 20 globes at 25W each = 500W
total)
Then
match the rating in the table below;
|
Rating
of feature |
kWh
/ night |
Cents
/ night |
$
for 28 days |
|
20 |
0.1 |
1.8 |
$
0.50 |
|
40 |
0.2 |
3.6 |
$
1.01 |
|
A60 |
0.3 |
5.4 |
$
1.51 |
|
80 |
0.4 |
7.2 |
$
2.02 |
|
100
|
0.5 |
9.0 |
$
2.52 |
|
500 |
2.3 |
45 |
$
12.60 |
Note: The estimated maximum electricity cost for the different load ratings was calculated assuming 4.5 hrs of usage per night for 4 weeks and an average price of 20c per Unit (kWh) – the actual price will be subject to your contract with your retailer.
Steve Twigger, from ETSA
This information was provided by ETSA Utilities, Major Sponsor of The Lights of Lobethal, at an information evening held in The Centennial Hall Lobethal on July 27th 2007