Holiday Edition: Light Up Your Home, Not Your Electric Bill

Nov 25

Hawaii has the highest electric rates in the nation. The holidays add load… but they also give you some of the lowest-effort, highest-control upgrades of the entire year.

Holiday Lights, But Without That Holiday Electric Bill You're Used To.

Every year, holiday lights sneak up on us. You plug in a few strands here, wrap a railing there, add a wreath with lights “just because”… and suddenly your home looks fantastic — but your electric bill quietly climbs. The good news is that the biggest savings come from the simplest choices. Switching to LED holiday lights alone can cut your lighting energy use by 80–90%, and most homeowners don’t even realize how old their current strands are until they pull them out of storage. LEDs run cooler, last longer, and turn a big seasonal expense into a tiny one.

Timers are the unsung heroes of holiday lighting. The holidays get busy — family dinners, school events, travel, late nights — and it’s easy to forget to unplug the lights at the end of the night. A simple plug-in timer solves the whole problem. Set your lights for 3–4 hours each evening and you’ll enjoy all the ambiance without letting them run until midnight or beyond. Even trimming two hours a night can make a noticeable difference over the month of December.

It’s also worth paying attention to where each strand is rated to be used. Outdoor-rated lights are built to handle moisture, wind, salt air, and temperature swings — all things we have plenty of in Hawaii. Using indoor-only lights outside isn’t just inefficient; it shortens their lifespan and can create safety risks. Meanwhile, outdoor LEDs inside the home often run brighter than needed and can overwhelm a room meant to feel warm and cozy. Matching the right strand to the right location keeps your home safe, efficient, and looking exactly how you want it.

Most homeowners don’t need to overhaul their holiday setup to save money — just a few small adjustments. Swap old bulbs for LEDs as they burn out, add a timer to your main display, and double-check whether each strand is designed for the environment it’s in. A little intention goes a long way, and these tweaks make the season feel brighter without letting your electric bill do the same.

Your Home Is About to Work Overtime

From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, your home quietly becomes a high-traffic building. More cooking, more laundry, more showers, more AC or heat cycles — everything runs harder. Even if you don’t have guests staying over, the season brings a natural uptick in activity that puts extra demand on your systems. This is when small inefficiencies become noticeable and little problems begin to show up on your electric bill.

One of the simplest ways to prepare is by changing your air filters. Hawaii’s mix of VOG, dust, and wildfire smoke means filters clog faster than most homeowners expect. A dirty filter forces your AC or heat pump to run longer and work harder just to move air, which can drive energy use up by 10–15%. Swapping in a fresh filter takes minutes, but the payoff lasts all season — cleaner air, smoother airflow, and a more efficient system when you need it most.

The holidays also put your refrigerator to the test. With dinners, leftovers, and extra groceries, your fridge becomes the hardest-working appliance in the house. This is the perfect time to check door seals using the simple dollar-bill test: close a bill in the door and gently pull. If it slides out easily, you’re losing cold air — and making the compressor run nonstop. Replacing a worn gasket is inexpensive, and tightening up cold-air loss can noticeably stabilize your monthly usage.

Another low-effort, high-impact step is lowering your water heater temperature to 120°F. Many heaters default to 135–140°F, which increases standby heat loss every hour of the day. Dropping the temperature cuts those losses, reduces scald risk for guests, and often goes unnoticed in daily use. Small changes like these help your home move through the busiest time of year without unnecessary strain — and they keep your electric bill from taking the holiday hit.

Stay Ahead This Holiday Season

If you want more quick wins like this, follow Horizon Currents on Instagram.
Throughout the holiday season, I’ll be posting bite-sized checklists, lighting tips, energy-saving reminders, and simple upgrades you can knock out in minutes.

It’s the easiest way to keep your home running efficiently — and your bill under control — all season long.

Follow here → @HorizonCurrents

The Smart Plug Advantage (Small Device, Big Control)

Smart plugs are one of those upgrades that feel almost too simple to matter — until you use one. For the cost of a takeout lunch, you get instant control over any lamp, decoration, or device you plug into it. During the holidays, when lighting, cooking tools, and small appliances start multiplying around your home, a smart plug becomes the easiest way to avoid all the “running all night” surprises you only notice when the electric bill lands.

What makes smart plugs so useful isn’t just the automation, it’s the precision. Instead of relying on memory (“Did I turn off the tree?”), you can set exact run times: two hours in the evening, off by 9 PM, back on tomorrow. Holiday décor goes from “always on unless you remember” to “runs exactly when it should, for exactly how long it should.” If you shave even one or two unnecessary hours per day off a few devices, the savings add up across a whole season.

Smart plugs also give you something homeowners rarely get: actual usage data. You can see how much power a device draws and how often it runs. That data is powerful. It reveals which decorations or appliances are worth controlling, and which ones aren’t costing much at all. Instead of guessing where your energy is going during the holidays, you get clarity — and clarity is what lowers bills.

But the best part? You can use these year-round. After the holidays, your smart plugs simply shift roles: automating lamps, managing fans, controlling dehumidifiers, or creating morning/evening lighting routines. A small device becomes a permanent part of how you take control of your home’s energy, long after the wreaths and lights come down.