LED lighting cuts energy bills by £240 a year says Daily Telegraph

LED lighting cuts energy bills by £240 a year, according to a report by the Investment Editor of the Daily Telegraph this morning.

That money-saving figure reinforces our own data, gathered over the past two years with businesses, organisations and households. The initial outlay for LED lights is repaid in a few months and then goes on delivering savings for many, many years.

Richard Evans, the Telegraph’s Investment Editor, advises in his report: “The savviest buy you make this year could be a box of new light bulbs. An investment in the latest expensive but super-efficient bulbs could save you £240 a year and pay for itself within five months.

“These bulbs, which are made up of LEDs (light-emitting diodes), are about 10 times more efficient at converting electricity into light than the old-fashioned filament variety. This explains the difference in the wattage needed.

“Although they are considerably more expensive to buy than traditional light bulbs and other ‘low energy’ types of bulb, such as those that work more like fluorescent lights, they consume so much less electricity that you will quickly recoup your outlay in lower bills.”

Medium-sized home

The Telegraph worked out its LED light savings figures with the help of online switching service Comparethemarket.com. They took the example of a medium-size home with 10 light fittings, each currently with an old-style 60W bulb. They also assumed that the owners would be retired so the lights would be on for an average of 10 hours a day annually.

The traditional lighting consumed 600W or 0.6kW. To make things crystal clear, the Telegraph advises: “Electricity is sold in units of kilowatt-hours (kWh) – the amount of energy that a 1kW device uses in an hour. So each hour the 10 lights consume 0.6kWh. Based on a typical unit price of 12.2p per kWh, the 10 lights will cost 7.3p per hour to run. The daily cost is therefore 73p if on for 10 hours. This is equivalent to £5.11 a week, £21.90 a month or £266.45 a year.”

By swapping out the energy-guzzling traditional bulbs with LED lights that consume 10 times less electricity (a 6W LED equivalent), running costs per LED light will be 7.3p per day, 51p a week, £2.19 a month and £26.65 a year.

That will deliver these savings for the medium-sized house:

• 65.7p a day
• £4.60 a week
• £19.70 a month
• £239.80 a year. 

Even more impressive, savings from LED lights will be much more if households are on a more expensive tariff. The Telegraph gives an example of those on “Economy 7” deals where the most expensive tariffs are much as 18p per kWh. In this case, annual savings would be £345.

The Telegraph’s support for LED lighting comes in the same week that Guardian writer Tim Dowling included adoption of LEDs in his efforts to halve his energy bills in just one week, as part of the newspaper’s Live Better Challenge.

LED choice

Remember, too, that quality LED lights – as opposed to the ‘cheapo’ budget options – have an expected lifespan of up to 50,000 hours. You can fit and forget, until you see the difference every time your electricity bill arrives.

You will not be short of choice as well. LED lights come in a wide range of fittings – take a look at our LED collection. You should find everything from bayonet bulbs to small and large (Edison) screw bulbs, as well as spotlights, downlights, tubes, capsules and more. You can also select the quality of light you want from warm light to daylight and more.

Our expert lighting team is here to help so give us a call to discuss your LED lighting needs on 0845 123 5464 – and start cutting your energy bills now.