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What do LED Christmas lights cost to run in Milton this winter? The cents-a-night maths on the November 2026 rates

A modest LED display on a dusk-to-11 timer costs a few cents a night to run in Milton on the November 2026 time-of-use prices, and roughly two to three times as much on a weekday if your household is on the Ultra-Low Overnight plan, because its most expensive block is 4 to 9 p.m.

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

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

For a typical LED display, a few cents a night. The electricity price is set by the Ontario Energy Board, not by Milton Hydro, and from 1 November 2026 the prices for households on the Regulated Price Plan are below. The arithmetic is simple: watts divided by 1,000, times the hours the lights are on, gives kilowatt-hours, and kilowatt-hours times the price per kilowatt-hour gives the cost.

Plan	Period (winter)	Price
Time-of-use	On-peak, weekdays 7 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.	18.9 ¢/kWh
Time-of-use	Mid-peak, weekdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.	14.6 ¢/kWh
Time-of-use	Off-peak, weekdays 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., weekends and holidays all day	9.1 ¢/kWh
Ultra-Low Overnight	On-peak, weekdays 4 to 9 p.m.	37.7 ¢/kWh
Ultra-Low Overnight	Mid-peak, weekdays 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 9 to 11 p.m.	14.6 ¢/kWh
Ultra-Low Overnight	Weekend off-peak, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.	9.1 ¢/kWh
Ultra-Low Overnight	Ultra-low overnight, every day 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.	3.7 ¢/kWh

These are the electricity prices only. Delivery, regulatory charges and HST are added on the bill and are not included in the figures in this article.

What does a typical Milton display cost per night?

Take an illustrative display drawing 100 watts in total, which covers a good run of LED on the front eavestrough, both gables of a Milton two-storey and a wrapped boulevard tree. Switched on at 5 p.m. and off at 11 p.m., it is on for six hours and uses 0.6 kWh a night.

Night	Time-of-use	Ultra-Low Overnight
Weekday, 5 to 11 p.m.	2 h on-peak + 4 h off-peak = about 7.4 ¢	4 h on-peak + 2 h mid-peak = about 18 ¢
Weekend or holiday, 5 to 11 p.m.	6 h off-peak = about 5.5 ¢	6 h weekend off-peak = about 5.5 ¢

Over a 40-night season from the start of December to the second week of January, that is in the order of 250 to 300 ¢ on time-of-use and about 550 ¢ on ULO for the electricity itself. Halve the wattage and you halve the cents. Double the display and you double them. Your installer can give you the rated draw of what is on your house, and that number, not a guess, is what goes into the sum.

Why does the Ultra-Low Overnight plan cost more for holiday lights?

Because its on-peak block, 4 to 9 p.m. on weekdays, lands squarely on the hours holiday lights look their best. Dusk falls before five in a Milton December, and most people want the house lit while neighbours are coming home and children are still up. On ULO those hours cost 37.7 ¢/kWh, about four times the time-of-use off-peak price. The plan is built to reward moving use to the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. window, which suits an electric car on a charger, but lights left on overnight are wasted lights.

None of this makes an LED display expensive. It does change the sensible schedule. A ULO household might start the lights at 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays and later, or for a shorter evening, on weekdays. A time-of-use household pays the higher on-peak price only from 5 to 7 p.m.

Is my Milton house on Milton Hydro?

Almost certainly, if it is inside the town. Milton Hydro Distribution's licence, published by the Ontario Energy Board, describes its service area as the Town of Milton as it stood at the end of 1990, with a list of address exceptions, plus some specified addresses in neighbouring municipalities. The name on your bill is the authority. Either way, the OEB sets the Regulated Price Plan prices above. Owners in Campbellville and rural north Milton should check their bill as well.

How much do old incandescent strings change the sums?

A great deal. Older incandescent sets draw many times what an LED string of the same length does, so a display that costs a few cents a night in LED can cost many times that with old bulbs. If you still have incandescent strings from years ago, check the wattage printed on the tag before plugging them in. The Electrical Safety Authority also asks that outdoor lights be rated for outdoor use, carry a recognised Canadian approval mark, and run from GFCI-protected outlets, with no more strings joined than the manufacturer allows. Old strings with cracked sockets or damaged cords should be replaced rather than reused.

What is the sensible timer setting?

• Time-of-use: on at dusk, off at 11 p.m. The extra cost of the 5 to 7 p.m. on-peak block on a modest display is a few cents.
• Ultra-Low Overnight: on at dusk on weekends and holidays; on weekdays consider a later start or an earlier finish, and always off before you go to bed.
• Never all night. Lights burning at 3 a.m. are not seen by anyone, and seasonal strings are not designed to run continuously.
• Permanent lighting: the schedule lives in the app, and warm-white everyday lighting can be set to a short evening window.

A timer or smart plug is set up with every seasonal installation, and permanent lighting is handed over with its schedule already programmed.

What about a shop or plaza?

Small businesses on the Regulated Price Plan pay the same OEB prices as households, so the same arithmetic applies to a Main Street storefront. Larger accounts on other contracts should check their own rates. A display timed to match trading hours costs less than one left on all night. See commercial holiday lighting.

Where does the real cost of holiday lighting sit?

In the installation, not the electricity. Running the lights for a season is small change next to the ladder work, the lights themselves and the January takedown. The Milton cost guide sets out what moves an installation quote. To get one for your house, send a photo of the front through the quote form.

Sources

• Regulated Price Plan prices and rules - Ontario Energy Board
• Milton Hydro Distribution Inc. service area (licence Schedule 1) - Ontario Energy Board
• Holiday safety - Electrical Safety Authority