A festive fanatic refusing to let soaring energy costs spoil his fun is expecting to fork out £1,044 for his power bill over the two months he has his Christmas lights up.
Paul Hutchinson, 33, covers his terraced house in Sunderland with a twinkling display of lights each year.
However, rising energy costs means he is currently forking out an extra £11 a day to keep his home lit up.
Paul put up the lights on November 6 and will take them down on January 2.
The dad-of-one estimates keeping the lights on will bump up his bill by £637, taking his total energy bill for the two months to £1,044.
“I’ve always put Christmas lights up,” Paul told Metro.
“‘The energy companies hiking up their prices won’t stop me from doing it. I’m determined to keep the lights on.”
Paul said his daily energy costs were now £18, rather than £7 each day before the decorations went up.
But he said it was “worth it” to see the kids' faces when they walked past.
“Every child has the right to see Christmas lights and they all love it. People come from all over the North East to see the lights and I put them up when the council puts their lights up so it’s part of the show,” he said.
Paul, a plumbing and heating engineer, had also added a huge Christmas tree in his front garden.
This was displayed with shiny reindeers and a life-size nutcracker.
He also was known to blast Christmas songs from speakers for passers-by to enjoy.
Paul’s son, Francis, loved to hang baubles on the tree and get into the Christmas spirit.
He said that as soon as Halloween was done, all Francis wanted to do was hang the Christmas decorations.
Paul went on to say that he put up the decorations for the community.
“This brings people together and is a conversation starter. We have kids posing with the tree in the garden. It’s wonderful to see,” he said.
