Cost of Christmas Lights

Mr Rubicon Conundrum

Hi

Just for laughs, I wanted to see how much my outdoor lights for Christmas were going to cost as the socket is in an awkward position and so will leave them on 24/7.

So, lets say 35 days for 24 hrs per day = 840 hrs.
The lights are 6w, or .006kw. So in order to use 1 kwh, the lights need to be on for 167 hrs, i.e. 1kwh/ 0.006w.

During 840 hrs, the lights should use 840/167=5.02kwh

At (assuming) €0.18 per kwh, the lights should cost me 0.18*5.02=€0.91.

However, I downloaded your App last night and it says it should cost me €7.64.

My question, are my calculations wrong or is the app wrong?

Electric Ireland: Brige N

Hi Mr Rubicon Conundrum,

Thanks for your message.

Could you advise us which Christmas light option you selected within the app?

We can look into this for you.

Thanks,
Brige

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Mr Rubicon Conundrum

Is it not irrelevant, once I set the watts to 6? the product or appliance used should not matter, once watts = 6, yes?

Electric Ireland: Brige N

Hi Mr Rubicon Conundrum,

We requested the type of light you selected in the app as sometimes a slight change in the particular device can cause a change in the usage cost.

However, we have looked through the various Christmas light options within the Electric Ireland app and when we load the information into the app, placing the quantity of lights at one, the typical power rating at 6 watts, and set the hours of usage at 167 hours per week the app then calculated the total units used as 8.73 units, or €1.52, per bill.

The difference between your calculations and that of the app is that the app takes into account the entire length of an Electric Ireland billing period, which is 61 days. This means the cost of running one set of 6 watt Christmas lights for 24 hours a day over 61 days should be €1.52.

We hope this helps.

Thanks,
Brige

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