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What LED Christmas lights cost to run on a Barrie hydro bill this winter

A 100-watt LED roofline lit from 5 to 11 p.m. costs about 7 cents a weekday night on Time-of-Use and about 18 cents on Ultra-Low Overnight at the prices in effect from 1 November 2026, before delivery charges and HST, so the plan you are on matters more than the lights.

Last updated October 28, 2026 · Reviewed by the Barrie Christmas Lights team

How much does it cost to run LED Christmas lights in Barrie?

A few cents a night for a typical roofline. The exact number depends on two things: how many watts the lights draw and which price plan your bill is on. The worked examples below use a roofline drawing 100 watts, which is a reasonable figure for a run of LED C9 bulbs on a Barrie two-storey; the wattage printed on the box or the controller tells you yours, and the arithmetic scales directly. Double the watts, double the cents.

The prices are the Ontario Energy Board's regulated commodity prices that take effect on 1 November 2026, the same everywhere in the province. On Time-of-Use (TOU), off-peak is 9.1 ¢/kWh on weekdays from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and all day on weekends and holidays, mid-peak is 14.6 ¢ on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on-peak is 18.9 ¢ on weekdays from 7 to 11 a.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. On Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO), every night from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. is 3.7 ¢, weekend hours outside that are 9.1 ¢, weekday mid-peak is 14.6 ¢ from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 9 to 11 p.m., and weekday on-peak is 37.7 ¢ from 4 to 9 p.m.

What does one night cost on Time-of-Use?

About 7.4 ¢ on a weekday and 5.5 ¢ on a weekend, for 100 watts lit from 5 to 11 p.m.

• Weekday, 5 to 7 p.m.: 0.2 kWh at 18.9 ¢ is 3.8 ¢.
• Weekday, 7 to 11 p.m.: 0.4 kWh at 9.1 ¢ is 3.6 ¢.
• Weekend, 5 to 11 p.m.: 0.6 kWh at 9.1 ¢ is 5.5 ¢.

What does one night cost on Ultra-Low Overnight?

About 18 ¢ on a weekday and 5.5 ¢ on a weekend, for the same lights and the same hours. ULO is built to reward overnight use, and holiday lights are an early-evening load, so they land in its most expensive window.

• Weekday, 5 to 9 p.m.: 0.4 kWh at 37.7 ¢ is 15.1 ¢.
• Weekday, 9 to 11 p.m.: 0.2 kWh at 14.6 ¢ is 2.9 ¢.
• Weekend, 5 to 11 p.m.: 0.6 kWh at 9.1 ¢ is 5.5 ¢.

100 W, 5 to 11 p.m.	Weekday night	Weekend night
Time-of-Use	about 7.4 ¢	about 5.5 ¢
Ultra-Low Overnight	about 18.0 ¢	about 5.5 ¢

What does a whole season cost?

Take a 50-night season, from mid-November to early January, with 36 weekday nights and 14 weekend and holiday nights. On TOU the 100-watt roofline comes to about 345 ¢ for the season. On ULO it comes to about 725 ¢. Those are commodity costs only. Your bill adds delivery and regulatory charges from your distributor and HST, which vary, but the commodity line is the part your schedule controls.

A bigger display scales the same way. A house with the roofline, both gables, two wrapped maples and a cedar hedge might draw 300 watts, three times the figures above. Old incandescent strings drew many times what LED does for the same length, which is why holiday lighting used to show on a winter bill and now barely does.

Which schedule keeps it lowest?

Start at dusk, end at bedtime, and on ULO, avoid starting at 4. Each extra hour from 4 to 5 p.m. on a ULO weekday adds about 3.8 ¢ for 100 watts; on TOU the same hour is mid-peak and adds about 1.5 ¢. Leaving the lights on all night is the costlier habit for safety as much as money: the Electrical Safety Authority advises turning holiday lights off when you go out or go to bed. On ULO, the overnight hours are the cheap ones at 3.7 ¢, but lights nobody is looking at are still a cost and a risk.

1. Set an outdoor-rated timer to come on at dusk, not at a fixed 4 p.m.
2. Set it to switch off at 10 or 11 p.m.
3. Plug every outdoor run into a GFCI-protected receptacle, as ESA and Health Canada advise.
4. Keep to no more than three strings joined end to end; long rooflines go on separate circuits.

Every installation booked here is set up that way, with the timer set to your schedule. Owners with permanent lighting set the schedule once in the app.

Who sends the bill in Barrie and the towns around it?

It depends on the street. Alectra lists Barrie among the communities it serves, along with Bradford West Gwillimbury and Penetanguishene. The Town of Innisfil states that InnPower distributes electricity in Innisfil and south Barrie. In Orillia, the Ontario Energy Board approved the sale of Orillia Power Distribution Corporation to Hydro One in April 2020. The commodity prices above are the same on all of those bills; delivery charges differ, and your own bill names your distributor and your price plan.

So a household in Bradford on TOU and one in south Barrie on TOU pay the same cents per kilowatt-hour for the lights themselves. The household on ULO pays more for the same lights in the evening, and saves on anything it can move to after 11 p.m.

Is it worth switching plans for Christmas lights?

No. The difference for a 100-watt roofline is a few hundred cents over the whole season, which is small next to what an electric vehicle, a hot water tank or laundry moved overnight can save on ULO. Choose the plan for the rest of the house. Then set the lights' timer to suit the plan you are on.

The takeaway

LED holiday lighting on a Barrie house costs cents a night on either plan. On TOU most of the evening is off-peak. On ULO the weekday hours from 4 to 9 p.m. are the dearest of the week, so a dusk start and an early finish matter more. For what the installation itself involves, see the cost page, or ask for a written quote.

Sources

• Ontario Energy Board announces changes to electricity prices for households and small businesses
• Corporate overview - Alectra
• InnPower - Town of Innisfil
• Ontario Energy Board approves Orillia Power Distribution Corporation sale to Hydro One - City of Orillia
• Holiday safety - Electrical Safety Authority
• Tips for holiday safety - Health Canada