The Christmas Lane Lights Display, Lobethal, SA., Australia

The Electricity Cost of Running a Christmas Light Display

This information was provided by Steve Twigger from ETSA Utilities [Now SA Power Networks] (Major Sponsor of The Lights of Lobethal 2007), at an information evening held in The Centennial Hall, Lobethal. on July 27th 2007.

Modern low voltage (12 to 24 volt) Christmas lighting use 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 total 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 (coloured "party") 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;

Total Rating in Watts or VA	kWh / night	Cents / night	$ for 28 days
20	0.1	1.8	$ 0.50
40	0.2	3.6	$ 1.01
60	0.3	5.4	$ 1.51
80	0.4	7.2	$ 2.02
100	0.5	9.0	$ 2.52
500	2.3	45.0	$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.

(In recent years LED lighting has become readily available and further cost reductions are achievable.)

These calculations were based on the average retail cost of power in South Australia in 2007 (20c per Unit (kWh)), and will need to be adjusted for todays pricing (about 40c in 2017).

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