2011-2019 LED Lights
For our first Christmas in our new Colorado house, since LED prices had come down to a more reasonable level, we decided to make the switch and go all in with LED. Not only were they more affordable, but they were so much BRIGHTER!
Compared to the $600 power bills in CA, the LED set-up that first year drew barely 3.5-amps (420 watts) of total power for ALL of the exterior lighting. That's less then $20 in electricity usage for the whole Christmas season!
2004-2010 Incandescent Lights & Power Bills Oh MY!
Our earliest displays used the "old-fashioned' warm-white incandescent lights. The mini lights and rope lights weren't too bad. But each of those large bright bulbs is a C9 7-watt bulb. So each 25-bulb string was 225 watts...and as you can see...I used A LOT of strings. So many, in fact, that I had to add 4 dedicated 15-amp circuits to power the over 5000 total watts used for the Holiday lighting. Towards the end of our time in CA, when utility rates were skyrocketing (along with the cost of living), we had a $600 Electricity bill for the month of December. Ouch!!
