Christmas is upon us and homes around the country have decorated with lights to celebrate.
While getting into the festive spirit can run your power bill up, there are a number of ways to make sure you’re not paying too much for energy over the Christmas season.
We’ve collected a number of tips below to help you keep your energy bill down without sacrificing any Christmas cheer in your home.
Tip one: Keep your lights on a timer
While you want your Christmas lights on at night when they can be appreciated, keeping them on all hours while nobody is around to see them is a sure way to rack up unnecessary costs on your energy bill.
Investing in a timer to switch your lights at a time of your choosing can ensure you’re not adding extra cost to your power bill. As an example, turning your lights on at 6pm and setting a timer to switch them off at midnight uses half as much energy as keeping them on until 6am.
Tip two: Consider LED lights and fibre optic trees
LED lights are a great way to bring your power usage down when compared to more traditional incandescent lighting. Not only do LEDs reduce power consumption but they also have a longer lifespan, meaning they’ll need replacing far less often.
Another money saving option is investing in a fibre optic tree. These trees come with inbuilt lights that run at a similar low-energy rating as LEDs do, and come ready to set up out of the box. This means you don’t need any other lights to decorate your tree (unless you like going over the top) and a fibre optic tree starts around the $100 mark.
Tip three: Choose better quality decorations
If your decorations are getting a little bit old or you have some that seem to be poor quality, consider investing in a set of newer top-quality decorations to brighten up your place.
Not only do newer, higher-quality decorations last longer than their cheaper relatives, they also tend to reflect light better, allowing you to create a better ambiance than if you’d chosen the cheaper option.
Tip four: Consider solar for outdoor lighting
If you’re decorating the exterior of your home with lights, consider the solar option to cut them completely out of your power bill. There are many options for outdoor solar lights, so you won’t find yourself limited to just a few.
Most modern solar lights will also allow you to set a timer for their operation, meaning you can set them up and forget about them – they’ll take care of the rest themselves!
Tip five: Invest in a good-quality multi plug
Even when your lights are switched off, they’ll consume a minute amount of energy. Unplugging your lights completely can take care of this issue to curb any extra power usage, but who has time to unplug every single cord?
Instead, consider a switch to a good-quality multi plug. This way when you switch off the multi plug, all of your lighted paraphernalia will stop draining electricity from the wall outlet.
Don’t take the cheap option here, however. Low quality multi plugs aren’t as efficient at regulating electrical current and are more prone to blowing a fuse which can lead to substantial damage to your other appliances.
Tip six: Compare your energy plan
This tip should be top of mind at any time of the year, but with Christmas bringing the hot weather along with it, there’s no better time than now.
Ensuring your power provider isn’t charging you extra for your energy usage is as easy as heading across to our energy hub, or inputting your address into our handy energy comparison tool below to find deals available in your area.
