The holiday season is nearly upon us and National Grid customers will soon bring out holiday lights, decorations and ornaments to celebrate this time of year. While these bring meaning and cheer to the holidays, they may also put a dent in your budget. Yard ornaments and older incandescent lights may consume significant amounts of electricity and could lead to higher energy bills. National Grid encourages customers to give themselves the gift of smart energy choices during the season and create energy savings as part of your holiday plans.

Upgrade Your Lights

Upgrading holiday lights from traditional incandescent mini bulbs to LED bulbs can make a difference for the environment and customer energy bills. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, LEDs use up to 90% less energy and could last 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Based a 100-light string with 6 hours of usage per day at $0.15/kWh. Holiday season is measured as Nov. 29, 2024, to Jan. 4, 2025.

While the upfront cost of LED bulbs is higher, their durability pays off in the long run. LED bulbs can last up to 50,000 hours, compared to 3,000 hours of life for an incandescent bulb. Incandescent bulbs also present a fire hazard, as they become warm to the touch, whereas LED bulbs always stay cool.

Reconsider Your Connections

A regular power strip still uses power when the items plugged into it are switched off. Additionally, some devices — when turned on — may enter standby mode and continue to consume electricity. Choosing an advanced power strip cuts power to devices turned off while providing service to items that are on. Eliminating phantom electricity by unplugging home electronics can save up to 10% a year.

Also consider connecting indoor or outdoor lights to a timer or smart plug to automatically switch decorations on and off, and prevent needless energy usage from forgetting to turn off decorations.

Additional holiday energy-saving tips from National Grid

• Consider the cost of inflatable yard decorations. They may be fun to look at, but inflatable yard ornaments are among the holiday’s largest energy consumers. Large snow globes consume about 150 watts per hour, while animated inflatables consume around 200 watts. Keeping just one inflated could add as much as $12 per month to a bill.
• Make smart choices when cooking.
  • Review recipes to determine the right tools for the job. Use the smallest appliance, pan and burner while cooking to save energy.
  • Slow cookers and electric pressure cookers use less energy than ovens. Both countertop devices heat smaller spaces more efficiently and lose less energy due to their insulation. An electric oven at 350 degrees uses an estimated 2 kilowatt-hours. By comparison, slow cookers utilize approximately 0.1 kilowatt-hour. Electric pressure cookers, which reduce cooking time of traditional oven recipes by up to 70%, use 0.36 kilowatt-hour for 15 minutes of operation.
  • If using an oven to prepare a holiday meal, keep its door closed as much as possible to prevent heat loss and reheating of the appliance.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR label. When looking to replace an appliance, choose one that is ENERGY STAR^® certified and save anywhere from 10% to 50% in energy costs. For example, replacing a refrigerator that is older than 15 years with an ENERGY STAR^® certified refrigerator can save up to $1,000 over the lifetime of the unit.

National Grid is committed to providing customers a variety of energy-saving tips and billing options to help offset increases in this winter’s energy prices. Customers in need of billing assistance or additional support can visit nationalgridus.com to learn more.

About National Grid

National Grid (NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.