New Study Shows Daylight Savings Time Costs Indiana Residents $9 Million

Not only did you start your week having lost an hour of sleep because of Daylight Savings Time, but new research suggests that “springing ahead an hour” is actually costing you more money in the long run.

According to a seemingly useless study by economists Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant, Daylight Savings Time should be renamed “Daylight Spending Time,” as moving the clocks ahead an hour results in the electric bills of Indiana residents increasing an average of $3.30 a year – $9 million statewide.

That’s because researchers say that even though the original goal of DST was to actually save people money on their light bill, all of that is cancelled out due to the increasing costs of heating and cooling. Yet, if you’re like us, you are nowhere near as concerned about dropping an additional six pennies a week on your electric bill as you are just ready for Spring to finally get here.

“Moving an hour of sunlight from the early morning to the evening (relative to clock time) increases electricity consumption for cooling because demand for cooling is greater in the evening and the buildup of solar radiation throughout the day means that the evening is hotter,” according to the study.

Interestingly, you have just wasted approximately one-minute of your life reading a relatively entertaining article about economic research that you likely care nothing about. However, in doing so, you have obtained a snippet of useless information to dazzle your co-workers to sleep with during lunch – you’re welcome!