Helpful Holiday Lighting Tips from Rocky Mountain Power

Holiday Lighting Safety Tips
Key Points

• Each year, about 12,800 people are treated for injuries related to holiday lights and decorations.
  
• Simple, easy-to-implement safety measures can keep you and your family safe throughout the holiday season.
  
• An estimated 300 fires—causing more than $7 million in property damage—involve Christmas trees annually.
  

Each year, hospital emergency rooms treat about 12,800 people for injuries including falls, cuts, and shocks, related to holiday lights, decorations, and Christmas trees, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In addition, an estimated 300 fires each year involve Christmas trees, resulting in 40 deaths, 40 injuries, and an average of more than $7 million in property loss and damage.

Take careful note of the following lighting safety tips and do your part to help reduce these numbers.

• Use only holiday lights with an Underwriters Laboratory (UL) safety certification label.
  
• To prevent short circuits and overloads, make sure light sets are fused. UL listed sets rated 120 V are always fused.
  
• Check all the connections and insulation before you plug in any holiday lights. Always test the lights on a nonflammable surface for 15 minutes. If they start to melt, smoke, or overheat, throw the string away.
  
• Place safety covers on unused outlets and keep cords out of site. This will help protect children and pets from harm.
  
• If you are using a live Christmas tree, make sure it is watered, and prevent the lights from coming into direct contact with the branches.
  
• If you are using an artificial tree, make sure it is made from fire retardant material.
  
• Never use lights on metallic trees.
  
• Keep lights away from flammable and combustible materials, including draperies.
  
• Check smoke detectors to ensure that they are working properly and that they have fresh batteries. Consider installing a fire extinguisher as an added precaution.
  
• Ensure that all outdoor lighting and equipment are certified for outdoor use and that they are plugged into ground fault circuit interrupter outlets.
  
• Keep electrical connections off the ground and make sure the wiring is clear of drainpipes and railings to prevent the risk of electrical shock.
  
• Avoid stringing holiday lights along aluminum siding, which can conduct electricity.
  
• Always stay clear of any power lines.
  
• Do not exceed the manufacturer's guidelines on how many strings of lights can be safely connected together.
  
• Turn off lights while you are sleeping or away from home. Consider using an automatic timer.
  
• Be careful when using metal staples or nails as fasteners. They can damage the protective insulation covering the wires.
  
• Fasten holiday lights securely to the building, trees, and so on to prevent damage from wind or jostling.
  
• Never put real candles on live or artificial Christmas trees.

Lighting Up the Holidays: An Energy Cost Comparison
Key Points

• Holiday lights come in a range of energy use, from 0.04 watts to 10 watts per bulb.
  
• LED bulbs are available and consume less than 10% of the energy of miniature lights.
  
• The seasonal cost for operating one yard inflatable is 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of powering 10 sets of miniature lights.
  

Did you ever wonder what it was costing you to light up your home, business, or facility in that colorful cascade of decorative twinkling bulbs every holiday season? This article contains some helpful information, which looks at the potential costs associated with different types of bulbs and other holiday displays.

If you are using some of the traditional colored lights, you will find that they use about 10 watts per bulb. A 25-bulb string of these lights burning 150 hours a month (5 hours per day) would use 37.5 kWh a month (25 x 10 W x 150 hrs). To calculate electricity cost, multiply your kWh use per string by the number of strings, and then multiply by your residential rate. For example, a customer whose residential rate was $0.10 per kWh would pay $37.50 a month to operate 10 strings of these lights (37.5 kWh x $0.10/kWh x 10 strings).

C7 screw-in bulbs (about 2" tall with a candelabra base) use about 5 watts per bulb, so 10, 25-bulb strings would use half the amount listed above ($18.75). Some of you may have C9 screw-in bulbs (about 3" tall with an intermediate base), which use about 7 watts per bulb. If this is the case at your house, your C9 bulb string of 25 lights is using 26.25 kWh per month. Using the same scenario as above, 10 sets would cost $26.25 per month in electricity.

Miniature lights are becoming more common for outside decorative lighting. The average miniature light uses 0.4 watts per bulb. One string of 100 miniature bulbs would only use 6 kWh per month (100 x 0.4 W x 150 hrs). Ten sets of these lights operating at $0.10 per kWh would cost $6.00 per month. If you are using the icicle lights, which use the same amount of energy per miniature bulb, you should be aware that a string of icicle lights with 100 bulbs will cover a much shorter distance than a straight string of miniature lights.

The light emitting diode (LED) holiday lights use only 0.04 watts per bulb, or 1/10 the amount of miniature bulbs. These bulbs are more durable, due to their solid-state construction, and safer, because they are difficult to break and run "cooler." Ten sets of 100 of these LED bulbs would cost $0.60 per month to operate (10 x 100 x 0.04 W x 150 hrs x $0.10/kWh). Initially, they cost about three times as much for the same string of bulbs as miniature lights. So, for a 3-month season, 5 hours per day, the total cost, which includes the purchase price and operating cost, for one string of 100 multi-color LED lights would be about $20 ($20 + $0.18) compared to $10 ($8 + $1.80) for one string of 100 miniature lights. However, over a 10-year lifetime, the cost comparison would be $21.80 for LEDs and $26.00 for miniatures. LEDs have a longer life expectancy. If the miniature lights do not last 10 years, the additional cost of replacement strings would need to be factored in.

Outdoor yard inflatables are surging in popularity. They range from a simple blow-up cartoon character to an 8-foot tall globe with rotating internal figures, complete with recirculated "snow" and lights. A large, static snow globe consumes about 150 watts, while a rotating carousel consumes around 200 watts. For a 3-month season, 16 hours per day, the total electricity cost would be $22 to $30 for one of these inflatables. This assumes that people want to keep the display inflated during daylight hours. On a comparable hours basis (5 hours per day), the seasonal cost for operating the inflatable ($6.80 to $9.12) is 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of powering 10 sets of miniature lights ($18.24).