Does Permanent Lighting Cost More to Run?

No. LED permanent lighting uses far less power than old-style string lights. You can run your Apollo system nightly. That's true even through a long holiday display. The hit to your OG&E bill stays small. It's small next to a full incandescent light show.

LED vs Incandescent Draw, Explained Simply

LEDs make light in a far more efficient way. Incandescent bulbs waste most of their energy as heat, not light. The U.S. Department of Energy backs this up. LED lighting uses at least 75 percent less energy. That's for the same light output. Holiday C9 lighting shows this clearly. A 100-count incandescent C9 strand draws roughly 700 watts. A comparable 100-count LED strand draws under 25 watts. That's a difference of well over 90 percent.

Permanent LED trim systems use a low power draw too. That's per foot. That's compared to string lights on the same roofline. Apollo hasn't published its own exact watts-per-foot number. So the math below uses a published industry range instead. It's for comparable LED trim systems. Treat it as a fair estimate. It's not a locked-in number for your home.

What This Looks Like on an OG&E Bill

Here's a worked example. Every input is shown. Check the math, or swap in your own numbers.

System wattage: published specs for comparable LED trim systems run 0.6 to 1 watt per foot. This example uses 1 watt per foot, a round, high-side number.
Roofline length: 150 linear feet, used here as a mid-size home example. Your own footage will be longer or shorter.
Total system draw: 150 feet x 1 watt = 150 watts, or 0.15 kilowatts.
Nightly runtime: 6 hours. That's a typical evening pattern.
Nightly energy use: 0.15 kW x 6 hours = 0.9 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per night.
OG&E residential rate: 8 cents per kWh in summer, 5.8 cents in winter (effective January 2025). A fuel cost adjustment can add to that. Check your real bill for the exact charge.

At the winter rate: 0.9 kWh x $0.058 is about 5 cents a night. That's roughly $1.50 for a full month. At the higher summer rate, a night costs about 7 cents. That's roughly $2.15 for a month. Oklahoma's average residential rate runs close to 9 cents per kWh statewide. So these figures sit in a realistic range. That's even before OG&E's rate structure and rider charges.

Running It Longer for the Holidays

Holiday displays run longer and more often than everyday accent lighting. That means more hours a night. It often means every night, for six to seven weeks straight. Here's the same 150-foot, 1-watt-per-foot example. This time, run it 8 hours a night. Do that for 45 nights. That's a rough stand-in for Thanksgiving through New Year's.

0.15 kW x 8 hours = 1.2 kWh per night.
1.2 kWh x 45 nights = 54 kWh total for the holiday season.
54 kWh x $0.058 (winter rate) = roughly $3.15 for the entire holiday display.

That's a small slice of a typical monthly power bill. It matches Apollo's own FAQ answer. Long displays have "a modest impact" on your energy bill. That's true even for extended ones. Run that same 54 kWh on incandescent C9-equivalent hardware instead. It would cost more. That hardware draws several times the wattage per foot. The exact amount depends on the specific product.

Scheduling to Keep Usage Efficient

App-based scheduling is the easiest way to keep usage efficient. Set your system to turn on at dusk. Set it to turn off at a set time each night. That beats leaving it running around the clock. It keeps your runtime close to what you'd pick by hand. You don't have to remember to do it every night. Zone control adds another option. Run a smaller accent zone most nights. Save the full roofline display for later. Use it on the nights you actually want it.

None of this is about a big power bill. The math above shows that. It isn't the real concern with LED permanent lighting. Scheduling is mostly a convenience feature. It just happens to keep usage sensible by default too. See the permanent lighting page for more on this. It covers app control and scheduling. Check Apollo's FAQ page for other common questions.

FAQ

Does permanent lighting use a lot of electricity?

No. LED lighting uses far less electricity than old-style string lights. Run your permanent lighting even for long displays. It still has only a modest impact on your energy bill.

How much does it cost to run permanent lighting on an OG&E bill?

Take a published industry watt estimate. A 150-foot system run 6 hours nightly costs roughly $1.50 to $2.15 a month. That uses OG&E's residential rate of 5.8 to 8 cents per kWh. Picture an extended holiday display, run 8 hours a night for 45 nights. That still adds up to only a few dollars total. Your real cost depends on your system's actual wattage and runtime.

Is permanent LED lighting cheaper to run than incandescent Christmas lights?

Yes, by a wide margin. The U.S. Department of Energy backs this up. LED lighting uses at least 75 percent less energy than incandescent lighting. That's for the same light output. A 100-count incandescent C9 strand draws roughly 700 watts. A comparable LED strand draws under 25 watts.

Does scheduling my lights save money?

Scheduling mostly keeps your runtime close to what you'd choose by hand. It adds convenience more than big savings. LED permanent lighting already uses a modest amount of power. That's true even run nightly for weeks.

Get a free quote or call (405) 891-5391.

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