How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in North Carolina?

About 8.4¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 14.95¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?

Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

North Carolina has the 14th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $1.23 a year.

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Cost to run a string of Christmas lights in North Carolina (August 2026 rates)

At 14.95¢ per kilowatt-hour — North Carolina's average residential price in August 2026 — running a string of Christmas lights costs $1.01 a year. That is 18% less than the national average of $1.23. North Carolina's residential rate is up 2.5% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from 98.5¢ to $1.01 a year.

Per hour: 0.4¢
Per day of use: 2.2¢
Per month: 8.4¢
Per year: $1.01

Assumption: 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year — 7 kWh a year. Per 100-count LED string. A 100-count incandescent string draws roughly 40 W, and older C9 bulbs far more. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How North Carolina compares

North Carolina pays 14.95¢/kWh, the 14th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 21.7¢ less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same string of Christmas lights costs 85.9¢ a year in Nevada and $3.18 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $2.33 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Washington	14.63¢	8.2¢	98.8¢
Oklahoma	14.82¢	8.3¢	$1.00
North Carolina	14.95¢	8.4¢	$1.01
Florida	14.99¢	8.4¢	$1.01
Arizona	15.05¢	8.5¢	$1.02

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a string of Christmas lights.

What else costs about the same in North Carolina

Led bulb$2.46 a year in NC Clothes iron$2.47 a year in NC Smart speaker$3.93 a year in NC

Cutting the number down

A timer that runs the display six hours instead of twelve halves the season's cost with nobody noticing.
Incandescent strings are where holiday bills come from; LED strings of the same length are a fraction of the draw.

Questions

How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in North Carolina?: About 8.4¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 14.95¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?: Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: North Carolina has the 14th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $1.23 a year.