High Energy Bills from Landscape Lighting
A halogen landscape lighting system running 8 hours per night in Central Florida consumes electricity year-round with no seasonal break. At Florida’s residential electricity rates, a 30-fixture halogen system can add $200–$400 annually to your utility bill. LED retrofit reduces that consumption by 60–80%.
One operator. Same person designs, installs, and maintains your system. Not a subcontractor.
Custom design. Every plan is sketched on-site for your specific property.
Clean installs. Buried cable, hidden transformers, no exposed wiring.
Signs your landscape lighting is driving up energy costs
- System runs on halogen or incandescent fixtures installed more than 10 years ago
- Transformer is a 300W or larger unit running near full capacity
- System runs from dusk to dawn — typically 10–12 hours per night in Central Florida
- Landscape lighting circuit is a notable contributor to monthly kWh consumption
- Electricity bills are noticeably higher than neighbors with similar-sized properties
How to calculate your landscape lighting energy cost
- Count total fixture wattage
Multiply fixture count by wattage per fixture. A 30-fixture halogen system at 20W each draws 600 watts when running. A 30-fixture LED system at 5W each draws 150 watts.
- Calculate annual kWh consumption
Multiply wattage by daily operating hours by 365 days, then divide by 1,000. A 600W halogen system running 8 hours nightly: 600 × 8 × 365 ÷ 1,000 = 1,752 kWh per year. The LED equivalent: 150 × 8 × 365 ÷ 1,000 = 438 kWh per year.
- Apply Florida electricity rate
At Florida’s average residential rate of approximately $0.13 per kWh, the halogen system costs about $228 per year; the LED system costs about $57 per year. The $171 annual difference is the ongoing energy savings from retrofit.
- Calculate payback period
Add bulb replacement savings (halogen bulbs at $3–5 each, replaced 1–2 times per year per fixture) to the energy savings to get total annual savings. Divide LED retrofit cost by total annual savings to get payback period. Most Central Florida retrofit projects pay back in 2–4 years.
Central Florida has no heating season and a year-round outdoor living culture that means landscape lighting systems run every night of the year. A system in Minnesota that shuts down for 4 months of winter accumulates roughly 2,900 operating hours per year. The same system in Central Florida runs 2,920 hours — but it does so at Florida Power and Light or Duke Energy rates that are among the higher residential rates in the Southeast. The combination of year-round operation and above-average electricity rates makes LED retrofit more financially advantageous in Central Florida than in most other US markets.
Frequently asked questions
How much does LED landscape lighting retrofit cost in Central Florida?
Do I need a new transformer when I retrofit to LED?
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