Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert platform has unveiled a helpful tool to help households calculate the cost of their Christmas lights this year.

Users can enter the type of decoration, daily usage duration, and number of days before receiving an estimate of the overall cost.

For instance, MSE estimates that a string of LED lights, featuring between 500 and 1000 bulbs, illuminated for eight hours daily across a fortnight will cost approximately 18p.

However, if the lights are incandescent rather than LED, this figure rises to roughly £1.93 over the 14-day period.

For a moving illuminated decoration, such as a nodding reindeer, used for the same duration, the projected cost is "about 35p".

Meanwhile, for a large inflatable blow-up decoration, such as a Father Christmas, MSE forecasts a 44p charge for eight daily hours over two weeks.

MSE guidance states: "We've calculated this for standard light / decoration sets, so we've had to make some assumptions (unless you entered your own wattage) as clearly there can be a whole host of variance on specific sets.

"Yet we hope it illuminates the rough cost of your lights for you."

You can access the MSE Christmas lights calculator tool here