How Much Do LED Lights Cost to Run? Saving Energy and Money

Reducing energy consumption is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. With the cost of living crisis and skyrocketing electricity costs, homeowners all over the UK are searching for ways to save money on their bills.

One thing we highly recommend is switching to LED lights. Over the past twenty years, the UK government has begun phasing out less energy-efficient light sources, like incandescent and halogen bulbs, for more affordable LED models.

But how do these light sources compare to traditional bulbs? Earlier bulbs were much more expensive and saw homeowners paying significantly more per kilowatt of energy. So how much do LEDs cost to run?

How much is the average light bill in the UK?

The cost of energy is always in flux. Fuel prices change daily depending on supplier prices and the factors surrounding your household. For example, here are a few things that could change your monthly usage:

the size of your home
the energy efficiency of your home
how many people live in your home
the energy efficiency of your appliances and how often you use them

To help households, Ofgem released statistics detailing the typical domestic consumption of UK households.

Energy Use	Example – home type and number of residents	Typical annual gas use (kWh)	Typical annual electricity use (kWh)
Low	Flat or 1-bedroom house; 1-2 people	8,000	1,800
Medium	2-3 bedroom house; 2-3 people	12,000	2,900
High	4+ bedroom home; 4-5 people	17,000	4,300

As you can see, a household’s typical annual electricity use rises the more residents live there.

However, these numbers rely on other factors, like your appliances and lighting. How much energy you use is calculated in kilowatt-hours (kWh), where 1kWh is enough to power a 100-watt lightbulb for ten hours.

Some other examples provided by Ofgem show exactly how energy use varies on an appliance-to-appliance basis:

Fridge-Freezer: expect to use 1 kWh in 26 hours
Electric Oven: expect to use 2 kWh for 30 minutes of use
Tumble Dryer: expect to use 4.5 kWh in a single cycle.

So, with all these elements to consider, how does lighting factor into your monthly energy usage?

Are LED lights expensive to run in the UK?

Before switching to LEDs, you should know exactly how much they cost to run. This information is based on data from accredited light specialists, KAV London. Below, we’ve compared three other light sources: incandescent, halogen and CFL bulbs.

	Incandescent	Halogen	CFL	LED
Power	60 watts	50 watts	15 watts	6.5 watts
Lumens	800	800	800	800
Life	750	1500	10,000	50,000
Energy Costs Per Year	£8.76	£7.30	£2.19	£0.95

As you can see, it takes an incandescent bulb 60 watts to produce 800 lumens of electricity. However, an LED only requires 6.5 watts, saving you 53.5 watts!

Switching your main light sources over to LEDs can save you significant money on your monthly and yearly energy bills.

How Much Do LED Lights Cost to Run?

If you want to calculate how much energy it will cost to run LED lights in your home, you can use the following calculation.

kW x hours of use x electricity cost per kWh

Let’s use a Light Supplier product as an example.

Here, we have the beautiful, stylish and energy-efficient Leyton Lighting Dover Pendant Ceiling Light. We need to identify the LED's wattage to determine its running costs: the Dover Pendant Ceiling Light is a 60-watt bulb.

There are 1000 watts in every kWh of energy, meaning that if you owned and used 4 of the 6-watt Dover Pendant Ceiling Lights in your home (for a total of 240-watts), they would take 0.24kWh of electricity to power.

You will need to estimate how many hours a day you use these lights: our example will use 10 hours.

Lastly, you must determine how much your current electricity supplier charges for energy. You can find this information here, but in the case of our example, we’ll take the UK average tariff of £0.34 per kWh, as provided by The Energy Savings Trust.

With all these figures in mind, we end up with the following calculation:

0.24kWh x 10 hours x £0.34 = £0.81 pence.

There you have it! To run four of your Dover Pendant Ceiling Lights for 10 hours a day would cost approximately £0.81, based on national average electricity costs.

Choose Light Supplier for Energy-Efficient LEDs!

Now you know how much LED lights cost to run, why not start saving money? We specialise in cost-effective LED light bulbs that are energy-efficient, modern, stylish and suitable for all kinds of homes.

Cut back on monthly and annual costs with Light Supplier’s industry-leading LEDs and see the difference for yourself.