Dubliners could be hit with over €60 more on their electricity bill this Christmas.
With Christmas just around the corner, Irish households will decorate their homes and trees with lights as part of the festivities. Most houses will use some form of a combination of indoor tree lights, outdoor rope lights, and light-up garden decorations.
However, rising energy costs are a huge concern for people this year as research from Wizer shows that households could on average add around €62.25 to their electricity bill this December by illuminating their homes with old incandescent bulbs. However, there are ways to keep the bills down, according to Martin Desmond, MD of Wizer Energy.
Read more: Energy bills could be slashed by €35m with battery storage power
He said: "Thankfully technology has come on leaps and bounds, LED bulbs are far more durable and energy efficient than the old incandescent bulbs, meaning there's no fear of racking up a sky-high bill come January"
So how much are your Christmas lights costing you? The following figures were calculated using an average energy price of 43.2c per kWh.
Christmas tree lights
According to Wizer Energy, most Irish households will use 2 sets of LED fairy lights to decorate their tree (around 25 metres of length in total). If you switch on the lights between 4pm-12am you can expect to pay around €0.0207 per day. That works out at around 64c for the entire month of December.
However, the older incandescent bulbs are far more expensive. A string of lights with 100 bulbs will consume roughly 40 watts, which would cost you €0.1382 per day, or €4.28 per month, an increase of €3.64.
Outdoor rope lights
LED rope lights usually consume around 1 watt per foot, so a 50-metre length of rope light that's left on for 8 hours a day is going to cost you €0.5668, or €17.75 for the month of December making them the some of the biggest energy consumers.
Again, the incandescent bulbs will cost you way more in bills. The same length of lighting nearly triples the price, as these bulbs would use around 3 watts per foot, working out at €1.70 per day or €52.70 for the month.
Outdoor decorations
Outdoor decorations are another common sight in many Dublin gardens. This Reindeer & Sleigh decoration from the Range for example is a great one to give your garden some Christmas cheer. Martin says: "These decorations can be a little bit deceptive as they are relatively inexpensive, not too big and look great in front of the house - however they utilise LED rope lights too, this one features around 5m of rope light, which means it'll cost you €0.0567 to run for 8 hours, or around €1.75 for the month"
The total monthly costs come to:
LEDS - 25 metres of fairy lights (€0.64) + 50 metre of outdoor rope light (€17.75) + 1 Outdoor Decoration (€1.75) = €19.46
INCANDESCENT BULBS - 100 bulbs @ 40 w (4.28) + 50m of rope light, 3w per foot 52.70) + 1 Outdoor Decoration (5.27) = €62.25
Read more:
Breaking Bad star praises Dermot Kennedy for Dublin charity busk
East Wall protests postponed as Minister Roderic O'Gorman to meet with residents
Court hears that Gerry Hutch said 'cops are going around like headless chickens'
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox.
