Homeowners insurance is an often-overlooked but significant cost in owning a home. Your insurance policy protects you against major losses in the event of a disaster, but you need to invest in premiums each month, which can be tricky for any family on a budget. However, you do have a measure of control. Your home electrical work in particular plays a big role in calculating your insurance payments, because outdated or faulty wiring can increase the risk of a fire. Read on to learn about what types of wiring can drive up insurance rates and how you can mitigate the costs.

The Insurance Company Makes the Call

If you don't know what kind of wiring you have in your house, you should have an electrician evaluate your system as soon as possible. Since the risk of bad wiring is so catastrophic, it might be hard to even insure a house that is too far out of date. “Some insurers will not insure you at all, some will require an inspection, and some will classify you as high-risk,” CEO of insurance-services company InsurEye Alexey Saltykov told the Financial Post.

Any of these features could raise your premiums:

Upgrade Your Wiring and Save

If you are facing high insurance premiums because of outdated wiring, it means that your house is also at a greater risk of fire. It's well worth your while to ask an electrician about what it would cost to replace your wiring system with a whole new setup to protect your home and family. Cheaper insurance is just the icing on the cake.

Give the electricians at your local Mister Sparky® for any electrical repairs or upgrades. We're always here to help!

You use it every day, but do you really understand electricity? It’s important, because, without understanding electricity, it’s hard to maintain electrical safety in your home. In order to understand electricity, you basically need to grasp five key concepts; we like to call them the five hidden mysteries of electricity.

If you are planning to start working out of home, it’s crucial that you have a designated work space. The best way to create a home office work area that’s productive and functional is to update your home office wiring. Turning that spare bedroom or a new room over the garage or even an extension into a home office is something that you would have to plan well.

Even the simplest of work spaces have some or the other electrical equipment and appliances and you would need appropriate electrical wiring, powerpoints, and circuits and plug points etc. for it. Aside from this, you would require Internet connectivity as well. Most homes have Wi-Fi, and even if all your office equipment like the PC, printers, scanners, phones and tablets are Wi-Fi enabled, it’s best to have a hardwired Ethernet connection in your home office.

That increases the reliability of the service and you won’t be inconvenienced due to an erratic Internet connection. While it may seem like a very simple job, the fact is that installing home office wiring isn’t an easy job and has to be done with care.

The celebration continues! Pegasus Lighting is 15 this year, and to commemorate our anniversary we’re creating monthly blog posts about popular culture 15 years ago. You know, just to remember where we came from. July 1999 was a tumultuous month. There were some inspirational moments, tragic moments, and just plain bizarre moments, like when we intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the moon. Enjoy this walk down memory lane. Don’t forget your baggy pants, hair gel, and Christina Aguilera CDs.

1. Moon Boom

via Wikipedia

Mercury-Redstone 4, the second U.S. spaceflight, which launched in July 1961, resulted in the near-death of astronaut Virgil I. Grissom and the sinking of the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft. The vessel was rescued from the depths of the Atlantic in July 1999.

 3. Lance Does a Victory Dance (Possibly Drug-Induced)

Good old Lance Armstrong of LIVESTRONG and doping fame won his first Tour de France in July 1999. It was the beginning of an Armstrong era that would later be tainted by the fact that Armstrong was doing unethical things to give him the edge to win. Live Strong? Even if it means cheating? Thanks a lot, Lance. Great role model. Pshh.

4. Crash in Martha’s Vineyard

Off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed, killing him and his wife Caroyln Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette. Very sad. Sorry for depressing you. But this is what was – phew! – I almost said “This is what was going down.” That would have been indelicate phrasing. This is what was HAPPENING in July 1999.

5. HARRY POTTAH!

In July 1999, the third novel in the HARRY POTTER series, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, was published in the UK. It sold 68,000 copies in the first three days and won a bunch of prestigious literary awards. Cha-ching!

6. A Blur of a Man

In a bizarre event, a Japanese man named Yuji Nishizawa hijacked an All Nippon Airways Boeing 747 and stabbed one of the pilots with a 8″ kitchen knife before being subdued by the crew. The pilot died shortly after the emergency landing, and the perpetrator was apprehended. Because he was diagnosed with mental illness, he was given a sentence of life in prison. Weirdly, he had discovered a way to smuggle weapons on planes, and, shortly before the incident, he had written to the airline alerting them to the security flaw and asking for a job in airport security. No one listened, until the hijacking. Then, the security flaw was fixed in all Japanese airports. Some people, man. Makes you want to go back in time and slap some sense into him.

8. Woodstock Again… Again

They tried to recreate the Woodstock music festival in 1994. What happened? Violence and destruction. So they figured, hey! Let’s give it another go! So, in July 1999, Woodstock 99 was held in Rome, NY. What happened? Violence and destruction. And sexual assault. Sorry Limp Bizkit fans, this is not going to work out. There were no more Woodstocks. (Or Limp Bizkit fans, incidentally.)

9. Andre Is Wimble DONE!

On the Fourth of July, in Wimbledon, England, under a blazing sun, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were battling it on the grass out for glory and riches. And a real big trophy. Pete Sampras defeated Agassi in three sets and called the match the “best tennis of [his] life.”

10. It’s Electric! (I know. Sorry.)

Florida commits its last act of execution by electric chair. The convict? Allen Lee Davis. I won’t go into detail about his heinous crimes. Or his execution. But it was shocking enough – oops I did it again! – I mean APPALLING enough for death by electric chair to be considered cruel and unusual punishment from then on in the state of Florida.

11. Hello Safeco

The inaugural baseball game was held at the Seattle Mariners’ Safeco Field in July, 1999. The field looked great. But the Mariners lost to the San Diego Padres, 2-3. Womp womp.

12. American Why? Just Why?

Stanley Kubrick’s latest film EYES WIDE SHUT was released in the middle of the month. Mask party, anyone?

14. Teenie Genie in a Bottle