Holidays add $15-$50 to energy bills

Thursday, December 21, 2006

A story by Corinthia McCoy in the Green Bay Press-Gazette highlights the electricity and energy impact of the holidays:

With the holiday season comes the decoration fever so don't be surprised if you see holographic holiday scenes, inflatable scenes and characters and fiber-optic trees.

They're what's in, according to Wisconsin Public Service.

This year, WPS expects to tack on an additional $15 to $50 to the traditional electric bill with all those holiday decorations sucking the electricity.

For example, if you display eight sets of mini or icicle lights and three spotlights and leave them on for six hours, it will cost 52 cents a day, or $15.45 a month, according to the WPS Web site.

"We always do (see an increase) over the holiday season, but it's not only from the holiday lighting," said Karmen Lemke, community relations for WPS.

More washing, baking and houseguests occur during the holiday, adding to the bill, she said, not just those Christmas lights.

However, warmer temperatures may offset some of the cost, Lemke said.

In the meantime, to save energy WPS suggests plugging indoor and outdoor lighting displays into a timer pre-set to run for three to five hours, use light-emitting diode light strings, and enhance the lights on your tree with reflectors to avoid adding more to save energy.