Martin Lewis explains how much it really costs to use your Christmas lights

06 December 2023 , 13:25

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Martin Lewis was once again back on ITV screens last night for the Martin Lewis Money Show (Image: ITV)

Martin Lewis has revealed just how much it costs to run your Christmas lights this festive season.

The MoneySavingExpert.com founder returned to screens last night for his ITV show The Martin Lewis Money Show. The show focused on all things "reclaiming" however at the end Martin shared some important information with viewers - how much your Christmas lights this year.

Martin told viewers that how much it would cost would be dependent on whether they were LED or "incandescent". An LED light is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) whilst an incandescent bulb produces light by heating a suitable material to a high temperature.

Martin explained: "This is my rule of thumb on how much your Christmas lights cost to run. If they're LED, I've worked it out, it's roughly a penny per 12 hours per 100 bulbs. Okay. If they're incandescent it's 13 times that."

"So if you're worried about the cost of your Christmas lights, if you've got LEDs up, LEDs are perfect. You can run them for six hours a day for a month and it's 15p, so you don't have to worry too much about the energy bill, it's more if they're incandescent."

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The screen behind Martin read: "LED: 1p per 12 hours per 11 bulbs - Incandescent: 13p per 12 hours per 100 bulbs - So run six hours a day for a month then it's 15p or £1.94." This advice will be helpful if you’re one of the few who haven’t already put up their Christmas tree, you keep this in mind when you’re decorating.

Alongside this, the Money Saving Expert founder shared some more Christmas advice for viewers and this one involved Royal Mail. Martin highlighted that Royal Mail was offering free parcel collection until January 31 next year.

He said: "Normally if you're sending a parcel and you want them to collect it it'll cost you 72p. Currently, they won't charge you and it's only 60p if you're doing returns. You do it via RoyalMail.com or the app. You have to pay for the postage on there and you just select your date and time and then you're done."

Ruby Flanagan