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

About 8.5¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 15.16¢/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 16th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $1.24 a year.

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

At 15.16¢ per kilowatt-hour — North Carolina's average residential price in July 2026 — running a string of Christmas lights costs $1.02 a year. That is 17% less than the national average of $1.24. North Carolina's residential rate is up 13.4% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from 90.2¢ to $1.02 a year.

Per hour: 0.4¢
Per day of use: 2.3¢
Per month: 8.5¢
Per year: $1.02

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 15.16¢/kWh, the 16th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 21.3¢ 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 Louisiana and $3.24 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $2.38 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Montana	14.99¢	8.4¢	$1.01
Florida	15.03¢	8.5¢	$1.01
North Carolina	15.16¢	8.5¢	$1.02
Kansas	15.27¢	8.6¢	$1.03
South Dakota	15.37¢	8.6¢	$1.04

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$2.49 a year in NC Clothes iron$2.50 a year in NC Smart speaker$3.98 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 8.5¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 15.16¢/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 16th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $1.24 a year.