The short answer
For most Ontario homes, running outdoor Christmas lights costs a few dollars a month or less with LED lights, and about $8 a month for 1,000 old incandescent lights (more for a bigger display). A display of 1,000 LED lights on for 6 hours every evening uses about 8.6 kWh a month, which is roughly $1 on the Electricity line of your bill.
The rest of this guide shows how to work out your own number, using the Ontario Energy Board's prices that take effect November 1, 2026, and how your price plan and timer settings change the answer.
Ontario electricity prices from November 1, 2026
Unless you buy your electricity from a retailer (the OEB says fewer than 1 in 10 Ontario customers do), you pay the Ontario Energy Board's Regulated Price Plan prices. The new prices take effect November 1, 2026, and the winter hours run until April 30. Prices are per kilowatt-hour (kWh):
- Time-of-Use (TOU): off-peak 9.1¢ (weekdays 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., plus weekends and holidays all day), mid-peak 14.6¢ (weekdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.), on-peak 18.9¢ (weekdays 7 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.).
- Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO): 3.7¢ every night from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., weekend off-peak 9.1¢, mid-peak 14.6¢, and on-peak 37.7¢ on weekdays from 4 to 9 p.m.
- Tiered: 11.2¢ for the first 1,000 kWh a month in winter, then 13.2¢.
These prices cover only the Electricity line of your bill. Delivery, regulatory charges and HST are separate, and the Ontario Electricity Rebate is a credit on top, so the change to your total bill won't match these numbers exactly. They're still the right way to compare one set of lights or one schedule against another.
How to work out your own cost
You only need three numbers: the wattage of your lights, how many hours a day they're on, and your price per kWh. The wattage is usually printed on the box or on a tag on the cord.
- Daily energy (kWh) = total watts × hours on per day ÷ 1,000.
- Monthly energy (kWh) = daily energy × 30.
- Monthly cost = monthly energy × your price per kWh.
For example, 10 LED strings at 4.8 watts each is 48 watts. On for 6 hours a day, that's 0.288 kWh a day, or about 8.6 kWh over 30 days. At the 9.1¢ off-peak price that's about 79 cents; at the 18.9¢ on-peak price it's about $1.63.
LED vs incandescent: what it costs to run each
The Canada Energy Regulator puts a 100-light incandescent string at 40.8 watts and a 100-light LED string at 4.8 watts, about 85% less. Here's what that means for 10 strings (1,000 lights) on from 5 to 11 p.m. every evening for 30 days, on Time-of-Use prices:
- LED: about 8.6 kWh a month, roughly $1.
- Incandescent: about 73 kWh a month, roughly $8.
Double the number of strings and you double the cost. Natural Resources Canada says ENERGY STAR certified LED light strings use 75% less energy on average than incandescent strings and last up to 10 times longer. If you still have old incandescent strings, switching to LED is the biggest saving available, and it also means fewer burnt-out bulbs over the season.
Your price plan matters more than you'd think
Christmas lights are mostly on in the evening, and that's when the price plans differ the most.
- Time-of-Use: on weekdays, 5 to 7 p.m. is on-peak at 18.9¢ and 7 p.m. onward is off-peak at 9.1¢. Weekends and holidays are off-peak all day. A 5 to 11 p.m. schedule is mostly off-peak.
- Ultra-Low Overnight: weekdays from 4 to 9 p.m. are on-peak at 37.7¢, which is about four times the weekend off-peak price. The same 5 to 11 p.m. schedule costs roughly twice as much as it does on Time-of-Use, about $2 a month for 1,000 LED lights and about $18 for 1,000 incandescent lights.
- Tiered: one price all day, 11.2¢ until you pass 1,000 kWh in the month. The same 1,000 LED lights cost about $1 a month.
If you're on Ultra-Low Overnight, a shorter early-evening schedule or a later start on weekdays makes a real difference, especially with older incandescent lights. Your bill shows which plan you're on.
What about leaving them on all night or 24/7?
Lights left on around the clock use four times the energy of a 6-hour schedule, and more of those hours fall in mid-peak and on-peak periods. On Time-of-Use prices, 1,000 LED lights on 24/7 come to about $4 a month and 1,000 incandescent lights to about $35.
Cost isn't the only reason to switch them off. The Electrical Safety Authority advises turning holiday lights and decorations off when you leave the house or go to bed. A timer does that for you, and Natural Resources Canada also recommends putting light strings on a timer.
What permanent lights cost to run
The permanent lights we install are low-voltage (24V) LEDs rated at 1.1 watts each. The example on that page uses about 300 lights; at full brightness that draws about 330 watts, so 6 hours a night uses about 59 kWh a month. At 2026-27 prices that's about $5.40 a month if it's all off-peak, and about $7 on a usual Time-of-Use evening schedule. The monthly estimate on that page was worked out on last year's prices, so these figures are a little lower.
Those figures assume full brightness every night, so a dimmer scene or a shorter schedule costs less. The Surplife app lets you set the lights to come on at sunset and run on custom timers. If you're weighing permanent against seasonal lights, our permanent vs seasonal guide compares the cost over time.
Ways to keep the cost down
A few simple habits keep your holiday lighting cheap to run:
- Use LED lights, and never connect LED strings to incandescent ones. Natural Resources Canada warns this can be a safety hazard and shortens the life of the LEDs.
- Put everything on a timer, set for the hours people will actually see the lights.
- If you're on Ultra-Low Overnight, avoid long runs during the weekday 4 to 9 p.m. on-peak period.
- Use outdoor-rated lights with a recognized Canadian approval mark, GFCI protection for outdoor connections, and don't overload extension cords or circuits, as the ESA advises.
Want the lights without the work?
Home Guardians installs seasonal Christmas lights across Vaughan, Maple, Woodbridge, Kleinburg, Concord and Thornhill, plus Richmond Hill, King City and nearby areas. Year one starts at $8 per linear foot for warm or cool white ($11 for RGB colour), with the lights included and yours to keep, and that covers installation, mid-season fixes, January takedown and off-season storage. See the Christmas light installation page for the full service.
Our instant price tool measures your roofline on the map from your address and shows an estimate right away. The final price is confirmed with a free measurement before any work starts. Install slots fill up by mid-November, and our guide on when to put up Christmas lights explains why earlier is easier.