What permanent LED roofline lighting costs to run per month in Clark County and Portland
This is the question the salesman waves away. The answer is small, but here it is with the actual datasheet wattages and the actual local rates, so you can check it.
The inputs
Minleon's RGBW+2 P50H deep pebble datasheet (March 2025) lists 0.36 watts per pebble. The D35 puck datasheet (January 2025) lists 0.45 watts. The S14 bistro bulb is 0.3 watts. Those are full-output figures; warm white at 50 percent and most colored scenes draw less.
Clark Public Utilities' residential rate is 8.79 cents per kilowatt-hour, unchanged since March 2024. Portland General Electric's all-in residential price is about 20 cents after the April 2026 increase. Cowlitz PUD, which serves Woodland, is 7.66 cents.
Monthly cost by house and utility
Four hours a night, 30 nights, at full output. Halve it for a 50 percent warm-white schedule.
| Install | Lights | Watts | kWh / month (4 h) | Clark PU (8.79¢) | PGE (≈20¢) | kWh / month (dusk to dawn, 12 h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150-ft ranch, Pebble Track | 150 | 54 W | 6.5 | $0.57 | $1.30 | 19.4 |
| 220-ft two-story, Pebble Track | 220 | 79 W | 9.5 | $0.84 | $1.90 | 28.5 |
| 220-ft two-story, D35 Puck Track | 220 | 99 W | 11.9 | $1.05 | $2.38 | 35.6 |
| 320-ft full wrap, Deep Pebble 12 in. | 320 | 115 W | 13.8 | $1.21 | $2.76 | 41.5 |
| 320-ft full wrap, Deep Pebble 6 in. | 640 | 230 W | 27.6 | $2.43 | $5.53 | 82.9 |
Watts = lights × datasheet wattage. kWh = watts × hours × 30 ÷ 1,000. Controller standby adds roughly 1 to 2 kWh a month.
Compared with what's already on the house
A single 60-watt-equivalent incandescent porch bulb on dusk to dawn uses about 22 kWh a month, more than twice the 220-light roofline at four hours. Old incandescent C9 Christmas strands are the real energy hog: a 150-foot run of 7-watt C9 bulbs at 15-inch spacing is about 840 watts, or 100 kWh a month at four hours, which is $9 to $20 a month for December alone.
In short
A permanent LED roofline costs between fifty cents and three dollars a month to run at typical settings, less than the basic monthly charge on either utility bill. Energy is not a reason to choose or avoid permanent lighting; feet and brightness are.
Packages mentioned
- Pebble Track — $32/ft, controller included
- D35 Puck Track — $35/ft, controller included