electrical - Will switching to LED lightbulbs make a significant ...

Let's say we have 2 bulbs connected in parallel

    Volts   Amperes  Ohms   Watts
1   120     0.5      240    60
2   120     0.5      240    60
________________________________
T   120     1        120    120
kWh 0.12

Now we swap out one bulb with a 15W CFL

    Volts   Amperes  Ohms   Watts
1   120     0.5      240    60
2   120     0.125    960    15
___________________________________
T   120     0.625    192    75
kWh 0.075

We'll see in this case, we've reduced our consumption by 37.5%. If we replace both bulbs, we'll save 75%!!!

    Volts   Amperes  Ohms   Watts
1   120     0.125    960    15
2   120     0.125    960    15
___________________________________
T   120     0.25     480    30
kWh 0.03

On the packaging, we'll print in large type

But wait, that doesn't seem right. Can we really cut our electric bill by 75%, simply by replacing light bulbs? What if we have 10 things (maybe not all light bulbs) in the circuit?

    Volts   Amperes  Ohms   Watts
1   120     0.5      240    60
2   120     0.5      240    60
3   120     0.5      240    60
4   120     0.5      240    60
5   120     0.5      240    60
6   120     0.5      240    60
7   120     0.5      240    60
8   120     0.5      240    60
9   120     0.5      240    60
10  120     0.5      240    60
_______________________________________
T   120     5        24     600
kWh 0.6

And we only replace one?

    Volts   Amperes  Ohms   Watts
1   120     0.5      240    60
2   120     0.5      240    60
3   120     0.125    960    15
4   120     0.5      240    60
5   120     0.5      240    60
6   120     0.5      240    60
7   120     0.5      240    60
8   120     0.5      240    60
9   120     0.5      240    60
10  120     0.5      240    60
_______________________________________
T   120     4.625    25.95  555
kWh 0.555

That's only a 7.5% savings! What if we have hundreds of devices?

As The Evil Greebo says, you can only save a percentage of a percentage. If your lighting load is only a small percentage of your total load, switching to CFLs will only reduce the lighting percentage by a specific percentage.

^{_{NOTE: These values are for example purposes only, they do not take into account power factor or other real world variables. Don't be a nitpicker. If you'd like to have a discussion about this topic, please do so in chat}}

Another thing to consider, is the billing practices of your local utility.

Block Billing

They may not be charging you based on your actual usage, but instead may be "block" billing you. They may, for example charge $X.XX for the first x kWh, then $X.XX for x - y kWh, then $X.XX for each additional kWh over that. In this case you'd have to decrease your usage enough to move into the lower bracket, before you'd see a change at all.

Budget Plans

Most utilities also offer what's known as a budget plan. This is where you pay the same amount each month, despite your actual usage. The budget amount is typically the average from previous years. In a plan like this you'll have a "balancing month", where you'll pay the difference between the budget amount and the actual usage. This amount can be lower or higher than the budget amount, depending on your usage.

Fees, Taxes, and Other Charges

You'll also likely be responsible to pay some other fees, taxes, and other charges, which may be fixed prices even if you use nothing. For example. There may be a basic service charge, which is an amount due just for being connected to the grid. This amount is due even if you use 0 kWh. Then there are delivery charges, maintenance charges, because-we-can charges, and of course, you'll have to pay taxes on the whole lot of it.

Source: http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/32633/will-switching-to-led-lightbulbs-make-a-significant-difference-in-my-electric-bi
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