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Calculating The Cost Of Holiday Lighting Displays

Wikipedia Commons

If you’ve ever driven past a house decked out with thousands of holiday lights and wondered how much the electric bill is, Duke Energy may have an answer.  

Of course, you’d need to know what type of lights are used, how many, and how long they are on every day.

Those three factors figure into the utility’s online lighting energy calculator.  Duke’s calculator is actually designed for people who want to know how much their own electric bill will be.

Duke's website also offers energy saving tips like using LED bulbs instead of incandescent lights.

In a statement, Duke writes "Six 100-bulb sets of large, incandescent bulbs (600 bulbs total) plugged in six hours every evening can add as much as $80 to a monthly power bill. By comparison, six 100-bulb sets of similarly styled light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs would increase a monthly power bill by only about $7. Using six 100-bulb sets of mini-LED bulbs would increase a monthly power bill by only $1."

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.