How you can reduce your electricity bills this holiday season

While the temperatures drop and the days shorten, many people are busy decorating trees and their homes with Christmas lights and elaborate decorations. Unfortunately, those bright and beautiful lights can increase your energy bills.

Want to save on your energy bill? If so, then you need to ditch traditional incandescent lights for LED lights, which consume up to 90 percent less energy.

Writing for ChristmasLightsEtc.com, Eric Allen found that for a large exterior display (featuring one 500-foot C9 string, one 200-foot C9 string, 45 light strings, and one wreath), you’d shell out roughly $115 to run the lights 5 hours a day for a month (assuming 11.3 cents per kilowatt-hour). That same setup would cost about $15 with LED lights.

And remember, the above estimates only cover running the lights for 5 hours per day. If you leave your lights on all night, say for ten hours, go ahead and double everything above (so, $230 for incandescent bulbs, $30 for LED). Using timers and apps to manage your lights is smart.

Keep in mind that energy prices vary, so the impact Christmas lights have on your energy bill may also differ substantially. Either way, using older, less efficient lights and keeping them on all day could leave you with sticker shock when the energy bill comes due.

Don’t forget appliances either. An older 50-inch plasma TV may consume three times as much electricity as a newer 50-inch LED panel. The U.S. Energy Department also notes that newer, more efficient heating and cooling units can cut in-home energy consumption by up to 40 percent. The right holiday gifts for yourself and your family may pay for themselves in the long run.