If you buy an electric car now, you can benefit from rebates and tax credits. These financial incentives are time-sensitive and change from year to year. They are being offered to early adopters to “break the ice.” While this article focuses on Los Angeles, it can get you started on finding out about the rebates and tax credits available in your part of the country.

People are calling them “electric cars” or “Electric Vehicles” or “EVs.” I’ll use the terms interchangeably.

What financial incentives are available for purchase of electric cars? If you purchased an electric car in 2011, you may be able to reduce your federal tax bill by $2,500 to $7,500 with a tax credit. Other tax credits are also available. Converting your Prius or other non-plug-in hybrid to a plug-in can reduce your federal tax bill by 10% of the cost of the conversion. Purchase of an electric motorcycle or low-speed “around the neighborhood” electric cart can reduce your federal tax bill by up to $2,500.

Californians who buy an EV and act quickly enough can qualify for a rebate from the State of up to $5,000 on an electric car and up to $20,000 on a commercial vehicle. These rebates apply to many kinds of electric vehicles, including all-electric, hybrid, motorcycles, and low-speed “around the neighborhood” carts.

What rebates are available for installing an electric charger? Electric cars come equipped with a charging cord as standard equipment. This is called a “Level 1” charger. It charges an all-electric Nissan Leaf in about 20 hours and a hybrid Chevy Volt (which has an auxiliary gas-burning engine) in about 10 hours.

To charge your car faster, you need to buy and install a Level 2 charger in your garage or carport. A Level 2 charger works more than twice as fast as a Level 1 charger. With a Level 2 charger, you can easily take your electric vehicle from empty to full overnight. A homeowner who has a Los Angeles electrician install a Level 2 electric charger can receive a 2011 tax credit of 30% of the cost of the purchase and installation, with a cap of $1,000. This means that you can reduce your 2011 tax bill by 30% of what you spent on purchase and installation of a Level 2 charger, up to a $1,000 tax cut.

If you are a customer of the L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP), you may qualify for a $2,000 rebate on installation of your electric charger. To qualify, you need to also install a separate electric meter for your new electric car. Ask your Los Angeles electrician to see if you will save money with this approach.

Does EV charging receive any special break in electric rates? In Los Angeles and many areas of the country, yes. In L.A., both Southern California Edison (SCE) and the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) offer special reduced rate plans for charging EVs at night, during off-peak hours.

Both power companies encourage people thinking of buying an EV or installing a charger to contact them. Call DWP or call SCE for EV info. SCE has extensive information on its website. Both companies are particularly interested in customer plans regarding EVs because they need information for planning power demand.

Are there any other incentives for electric car owners? Some states, like California, provide a sticker to qualifying electric car owners so that they can drive in freeway carpool lanes regardless of the number of occupants.

Where can I get more information? EDTA is an industry organization for electric transportation. On their website you can find out more about incentives in L.A. and also check out incentives for electric cars in other zip codes.

Why are governments and utilities offering financial incentives for purchasing electric cars? Driving an electric car, rather than a gas burner, is one of the best ways to wean our country off oil and to help the environment. We Americans use 60% of the oil that we consume in our vehicles. That’s approximately the amount of oil that we import each year. So, if we stopped burning oil in our cars, we wouldn’t need to import foreign oil. Electric cars also give us the ability to transition to clean and renewable sources of electric energy like solar and wind.

Kim Hopkins has been a Los Angeles electrician since 1979. His company, The Electric Connection, is one of the foremost electrical contracting companies in the L.A. area. One of the specialties of The Electric Connection is installing chargers for electric cars. By doing a search on the web for: electrician Los Angeles CA you’ll easily find their company business listing on Google.

 Click here to visit our website.

Have you ever been sitting there reading a book and noticed the lights flickering? Maybe you thought it was just your eyes or it didn’t really happen. It wasn’t your eyes. It was very likely your lights. So, why do your lights flicker? A Beverly Hills electrician is here to explain flickering lights and what it means to you and the safety of your home. You can always call the professionals at The Electric Connection if you have more questions or concerns about flickering lights.

It is important to check to see if it is just the light in the living room that is flickering or if it is lights throughout the house that are getting darker and brighter.

Some reasons that your lights flicker are as follows.

1-Bad weather. If there is strong winds or a lightning storm raging, your lights may flicker. This is normal and often an indicator the power may go out.

2-Power to the house is fluctuating. The problem may be with the power coming into the house. You may notice flickering lights during peak hours. This is because there is a higher demand on the power grid than what the grid can handle.

3-If it a single light that is flickering, you may have a problem with the switch or the wiring to the light fixture. This is something that needs to be investigated by an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners need to understand that a single flickering light is often an indicator of a bigger problem. The bigger problem can lead to an electrical fire.

If you have noticed a single light or random lights flickering at different times, it is a good idea to have an inspection performed by an electrician. This will tell you if there is a problem you need to worry about or you if you simply have a bulb that needs changed. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your inspection.

There are a wide array of hidden problems that homeowners may discover in their first few weeks occupying a property. This is especially true in older houses, where the new buyer is hardly the first occupant. Many such older homes in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., are generally solid structures but have minor electrical or plumbing issues that aren't apparent when visiting an open house.

One of the more costly problems that you'll want to watch out for is "hot wiring" throughout the property. This is when, somewhere in your house, the electricity is causing a dangerous amount of heat. Whenever there is too much heat coming from one particular spot in the home, there is the potential for fire, which could end up costing you significantly in the long run - or worse, fatally harm members of the household.

The wall switch is one area where you should be especially worried about poor wiring. These switches are designed so that heat won't build up if correctly installed, so any rise in temperature is a sure sign something is amiss. It is relatively common for a dimming switch to build up heat over an extended period - they are, after all, powering at least 600 watts' worth of light bulbs. However, heat at a receptacle is another matter; a connection there needs immediate improvement to prevent a fire.

When you think of electrical work, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? We’d like to think that Kolb Electric is the first thing that pops up. But hey, we’re realists. You think of stress, you think of frustration, and mostly think of the money involved. With this in mind, it can be pretty easy to want to contact that “friend of a friend” that dabbles in electric work, right?

Well, the experts at Kolb would like to have a little talk about that. And not just the DIY buddy you may have; we’d like to discuss disreputable and unofficial Baltimore electrician “companies” as well. Trust our word we we say these kinds of solutions can do more harm than good!

Need an electrician in Baltimore? Save the stress and contact Kolb Electric!

We’ve discussed this at length in the past, so we’ll stick to the cliff notes here. Disreputable electricians in Baltimore are any that lack current, in-state licensing. Those that carry no official, genuine documents, and those that operate from unmarked vehicles. These types of companies also often ask for cash up front, and are just as likely to disappear as to do the project they were hired for.

When you’re looking to hire electricians in Baltimore, keep in mind that you’re putting a huge amount of your personal assets and heath on the line. By dealing with a company that isn’t recognized, you risk:

Beyond dodging all of those issues we listed above, working with professional, certified electricians will net you:

If you’re looking to hire electricians in Baltimore that can provide you with peerless, effective electrical services, look no further. Contact the experts at Kolb today to set your appointment!

Electric cars are very economical—if you use them right. Most people don’t and end up paying nearly as much as the owners of small, gas-powered cars. This is because the electric cars are often not charged as they should and the electric car owner is forced to rely on the gas in the tank to drive the car. You can change this by investing in a Level II charger. In order to use the charging station at home, you will need to give an electrician in Beverly Hills a call. You can always depend on the team at The Electric Connection to send out a reliable, professional electrician to get the job done.

The fast charging systems require a large 240-volt outlet. These are not typical in most garages and carports. If you have had your home custom built, you may have already had one installed. The outlets are the funny looking ones that your air conditioner or dryer plug into. Because the chargers require more electricity than a standard Level I charger, you will need a breaker dedicated solely to your Level II charger.

If you are not sure if your electric panel can support an additional breaker, don’t worry about it. An electrician will let you know during the Beverly Hills electrical inspection. It will be one of the first things the electrician checks for. If the panel doesn’t have the room, an upgrade will be necessary, which is something the electrician will handle.

The investment of the faster system and the electrical outlet is well worth the cost. You will be able to save a great deal of money on your weekly gas bill by relying on your charged electric car rather than gas. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your initial inspection for a Level II charging system installation.