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

About 8.7¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 15.55¢/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?

South Carolina has the 21st 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 South Carolina (June 2026 rates)

At 15.55¢ per kilowatt-hour — South Carolina's average residential price in June 2026 — running a string of Christmas lights costs $1.05 a year. That is 15% less than the national average of $1.24. South Carolina's residential rate is up 5.1% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from 99.8¢ to $1.05 a year.

Per hour: 0.4¢
Per day of use: 2.3¢
Per month: 8.7¢
Per year: $1.05

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 South Carolina compares

South Carolina pays 15.55¢/kWh, the 21st cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 18.8¢ less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same string of Christmas lights costs 88.5¢ a year in Nevada and $3.56 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $2.67 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
South Dakota	15.36¢	8.6¢	$1.04
West Virginia	15.45¢	8.7¢	$1.04
South Carolina	15.55¢	8.7¢	$1.05
Kansas	15.71¢	8.8¢	$1.06
Iowa	15.93¢	9.0¢	$1.08

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 South Carolina

Led bulb$2.55 a year in SC Clothes iron$2.57 a year in SC Smart speaker$4.09 a year in SC

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 South Carolina?: About 8.7¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 15.55¢/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?: South Carolina has the 21st cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $1.24 a year.