If you are weighing a new system or wondering why your bill jumped after the old halogen lights went in, the question comes up fast: how much electricity does landscape lighting use? With modern LED fixtures, the honest answer is very little. A typical Texas yard can be beautifully lit for a few dollars a month. Older halogen systems are a different story.
This guide gives you the formula, real numbers for small, medium and large systems, and the hours your lights actually run in Texas through the year.
The formula for landscape lighting electricity use
Everything comes down to three numbers: how many watts the system draws, how many hours it runs and what you pay per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
Daily cost = total watts × hours per night ÷ 1,000 × rate per kWh
Dividing by 1,000 converts watt-hours to kilowatt-hours, the unit on your electric bill. Multiply the daily cost by 30 for a monthly figure or by 365 for a yearly one.
Here is a quick example. A 100-watt LED system running four hours a night uses 400 watt-hours, or 0.4 kWh. At 15 cents per kWh, that is 6 cents a night, about $1.80 a month and $21.90 a year.
How much electricity does landscape lighting use? Real examples
The table below compares LED and halogen systems of three sizes at 15 cents per kWh. We assume 5 watts per LED fixture and 35 watts per halogen fixture, which are typical middle-of-the-road numbers. Two schedules are shown: dusk to about 11 PM (averaging roughly 4 hours a night across the year) and dusk to dawn (averaging roughly 12 hours).
| System | Load | kWh per year (4 hrs/night) | Cost per year (4 hrs/night) | kWh per year (12 hrs/night) | Cost per year (12 hrs/night) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 LED fixtures | 50 W | 73 | $10.95 | 219 | $32.85 |
| 20 LED fixtures | 100 W | 146 | $21.90 | 438 | $65.70 |
| 40 LED fixtures | 200 W | 292 | $43.80 | 876 | $131.40 |
| 10 halogen fixtures | 350 W | 511 | $76.65 | 1,533 | $229.95 |
| 20 halogen fixtures | 700 W | 1,022 | $153.30 | 3,066 | $459.90 |
| 40 halogen fixtures | 1,400 W | 2,044 | $306.60 | 6,132 | $919.80 |
A 20-fixture LED system running every evening until 11 PM costs about as much per year as a couple of fast-food lunches. The same layout with halogen lamps costs roughly seven times more, and that gap widens if you run lights all night or use 50-watt halogen lamps.
If you are running halogen today, our guide to switching from halogen to LED walks through the conversion.
Tip: Transformers are not perfectly efficient. A quality magnetic transformer loses a small share of its energy as heat, so adding roughly 10 percent to your fixture total gives a more realistic estimate. Your exact rate also matters: check the energy charge on your bill, since Texas rates vary widely by provider and plan.
Hours by season: Texas sunset times
Your lights run longer in winter than in summer, because sunset in Texas swings by about three hours across the year. Sunset times vary a bit by city and by date, but these approximate figures for Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio show the pattern.
| Time of year | Approx. sunset | Dusk to 11 PM | Dusk to dawn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late June (longest days) | About 8:25 to 8:40 PM | About 2.5 hours | About 10 hours |
| March and September | About 7:30 to 7:45 PM | About 3.5 hours | About 12 hours |
| Early November (after DST ends) | About 5:30 to 5:45 PM | About 5.3 hours | About 13 hours |
| December (shortest days) | About 5:20 to 5:35 PM | About 5.5 hours | About 14 hours |
That is why your December bill shows slightly more lighting use than your June bill, even though the system has not changed. Averaged over the year, dusk to 11 PM works out to roughly four hours a night, the figure used in the cost table above. For exact sunset times by month, try our sunset timer planner.
Timer strategies that keep costs low
With LED, energy cost is rarely the deciding factor, but a smart schedule still saves money, extends fixture life and keeps your neighbors happy.
Astronomical timers
An astronomical timer calculates sunset for your location every day, so lights come on at dusk year-round without manual resets after daylight saving time changes.
Dusk plus a fixed off time
The most popular schedule: on at sunset, off at 10 or 11 PM. You get full curb appeal during the hours people are awake and outside.
Two-stage scheduling
Run the full design in the evening, then keep only entry, path and side-yard fixtures on until dawn. An all-night security layer of 30 to 40 LED watts costs only about $20 to $26 a year at 15 cents per kWh.
Zones and dimming
Smart controllers let you run backyard and pool zones only when you are entertaining, and dim fixtures that do not need full output.
Our smart lighting controls service sets up zones, schedules and phone control so your system runs exactly when you want it to and no longer.
Total your watts
Add the rated wattage of every fixture. Add roughly 10 percent for transformer losses.
Choose your hours
Use about 4 hours for dusk to 11 PM, or about 12 hours for dusk to dawn, as a yearly average.
Find your rate
Look at the energy charge per kWh on your electric bill.
Run the formula
Watts × hours ÷ 1,000 × rate gives the daily cost. Multiply by 365 for the year, or use our energy cost calculator.
Other factors that change your numbers
The table above is a solid starting point, but a few details can push your real-world landscape lighting electricity use up or down.
Fixture mix
Not every fixture draws 5 watts. Small path lights and step lights may draw 2 to 3 watts, while large uplights for mature live oaks, tall palms or two-story facades can draw 8 to 10 watts or more. A system heavy on tree lighting will use more power than one built mostly around paths. When you estimate, list each fixture type separately rather than assuming one average wattage.
Dimming
Many LED fixtures and smart controllers support dimming. Running a fixture at a lower output reduces its draw, so a design that dims accent zones after 9 PM uses less energy than one that runs everything at full output until midnight.
Holiday and seasonal additions
Plugging string lights or seasonal decorations into the landscape transformer adds load. Count those watts too, and make sure the transformer stays under 80 percent of its rating.
Your electricity plan
Texas rates vary by provider, plan and season. Some plans include time-of-use pricing or free night hours that make evening lighting even cheaper. Others charge more during peak periods. Plug your actual rate into the formula rather than relying on our 15 cent example.
Old halogen leftovers
A mostly LED system with a few remaining halogen fixtures can surprise you. Four 50-watt halogen lamps draw as much as forty 5-watt LEDs. If your bill seems high, check for holdouts before blaming the rest of the system.
What this means for your project
So, how much electricity does landscape lighting use in a real Texas yard? With LED, usually less than a single household appliance, and operating cost should not stop you from lighting the whole property. With LED, the bigger questions are design, fixture quality and how the system is wired. A larger system needs a properly sized transformer, so see our guide to landscape lighting transformer sizing. For upfront planning ranges, read landscape lighting cost in Texas.
We design efficient LED systems for homes across the state, including Frisco and Sugar Land. Book a free consultation and night demo, and your written proposal will include the total system wattage so you know what to expect on your bill.
