With the start of the school year and the holiday season approaching, it seems as though the mound of expenses just keep piling up. You’re budgeting for school shopping, lunches, holiday shopping and making sure your lights stay turned on. This season tends to be the most expensive for many home owners.

Luckily, we have a few ideas on how to cut back on utility bills and lower your electric bill. We also provide home inspections for everyone in the Northern Virginia area and look at ways you can utilize the most out of your electrical appliances. You may be heading into a time filled with many expenses but you can pad your pocket with money saved from lowering your utility bill. Check out these tips that will help you with your utility bills and give you peace of mind during this hectic season!

Install Dimmer Switches

When you install dimmer switches, you can use only as much light as you need. With a traditional light switch, the only settings are on and off, meaning you are either using 0% electricity or 100%. With a dimmer, you have an entire spectrum of settings in between. Being able to decrease the amount of light you use inevitably results in lower energy bills. Install dimmers in the rooms you use the most like the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and bedrooms; this will allow you to take advantage of the greatest savings possible.

Keep Your Fridge and Freezer Full

Everyone always tells you to keep the fridge closed. But did you know that keeping your fridge and freezer full can also save money? Food acts as insulation and lessens the amount of time that the fridge has to run to stay cool. This will be easy to do with all of those lunches your family will have to pack for school and for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Install Ceiling Fans

Keep the air circulating in your home, and your air conditioner won’t have to work as hard. Ceiling fans can help lower your electric bill by up to 30 to 40 percent. While a ceiling fan doesn’t actually decrease the temperature of a room, the draft makes the room feel cooler – allowing you to raise the thermostat and be just as comfortable. You can even use your ceiling fans in the winter months! Many people are unaware that ceiling fans can be used to circulate warm air during cooler months of the year. By running the blades clockwise, ceiling fans push warm air down from the ceiling without creating a draft.

Get Rid of “Phantom Loads”

A shocking 75 percent of the energy used by home electronics is consumed when they’re turned off. These “phantom” users include: televisions, videogame consoles, stereos, computers and many kitchen appliances—basically anything that holds a time or other settings. A simple solution? Plug all of these items into power strips; then, get in the habit of turning off the strips between uses.  This will cut back on utility bills and will help combat overloading fuses.

Switch to LEDs

LED light bulbs use 90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. Switch out the most widely used bulbs in your home. Then, replace the rest as they burn out. LED lights tend to last much longer than traditional bulbs so you won’t have to replace them as often – saving you money.

Sticky lighting situation? Solve it with LED tape lights!

Here at Pegasus Lighting, we’re very excited to offer you innovative light fixtures to fit your every need. One product that’s really got it going on in the versatility department is LED tape lighting. If you’ve never seen tape lights before, they’re pretty much what they sound like, strips of LED lights with strong adhesive backing. They come in trimmable reels, are rated for use indoors and outdoors, and are available in white, colored, and color-changing varieties.

Need decor inspiration? Check out this saucy little video to discover all the different ways you can use tape lights for your home, office, interior, and exterior:

When will they catch you?

Christmas is just around the corner, and many families are decorating their homes. During the holiday season, when the sun sets early, decorative lights along the streets and homes can bring a sense of warmth during the cold and dark evenings. When decorating your home, take extra precautions so that your lighting installation is safe from electrical hazards.

Ensure light bulbs don’t come in contact with flammable items (i.e. paper, cloth). Over time bulbs can generate heat and transfer this heat into nearby material that can lead to a fire. Although decorations look beautiful lying atop Christmas cloth, keep an eye on them if the lights are to be left on for a significant amount of time.

With this same issue in mind, don’t leave any lights unattended in the home. If you are leaving a room for an extended period of time, unplug the lights. Should a fire start, and no one is nearby to address it quickly, you could risk losing more than just a Christmas tree.

When hanging your lights do not use nails or staples that can penetrate the wires. If the protecting rubber and plastic is pierced, the exposed wires can lead to an electrical fire. The heat from the wires can heat up surrounding material and moisture exposure can cause sparks.

Ensure your lights are rated for outdoor use should they be used on the outside of your home. Some lights tend to be more delicate and not weatherproofed and are intended for indoor use only. Should it rain or snow, you may find it necessary to replace all the lights on the exterior of your home.

Once the holiday season has come to an end, take down the lights. Christmas decorations and lights are not designed to be exposed to the elements 365 days a year. After an extended period of harsh weather and temperature fluctuations, wires can deteriorate. This means that you could risk an electrical fire if you do not replace the lights. Saving time and effort by leaving your lights up year-long can cost you money.

When connecting strands of lights, check each connection carefully so that it is tight and secure. The connection prongs can become exposed during wind gusts. If they are already exposed you can risk experiencing electrical surges when exposed elements come in contact with the elements.

You also want to avoid overloading power outlets and extension cords. Too many strands attached to the same extension cord, or chained extension cords can be dangerous. A good rule of thumb is to limit the strand length to no more than three chains of lights.

The Christmas season can be warm and inviting, but without the proper precautions you can risk losing more than just a few presents under the tree. Take some extra time when decorating this season to ensure that your family and home are protected. For more information or for a help from a licensed electrician, contact your local Expert Electric at 604-681-8338.

The availability of cheap electronic goods combined with our ever-advancing world of technology are rapidly creating a worldwide crisis. E-waste, or electronic waste, resulting from consumers improperly disposing of old equipment without a second glance, is taking its toll not only on the environment, but on the population as well.

The fastest growing waste stream in many countries, e-waste includes any item that utilizes a battery or plugs into an electrical outlet for operation.

Twenty five U.S. states have laws requiring e-waste recycling, which is typically free to consumers, however comprehensive federal laws have not yet been established. 15 states have landfill disposal bans on electronic waste. For information on your state, contact theNational Center for Electronics Recycling.

In cooperation with HirePatriots, a program of parent non-profit Patriotic Hearts dedicated to providing jobs for U.S. veterans and support services for their families, Mr. Electric® offers complete, professional electronic waste management solutions. As part of the Veterans Green Projects, HirePatriots is leading the way in providing safe e-waste recycling and disposal. Contact Mr. Electric today for all your e-waste management needs. With the help of HirePatriots, we can help you safely and responsibly recycle or dispose of your used electronic gadgets and appliances. Your world – and your family - is counting on you.  

As a homeowner, you have to make certain that the various parts of your home are not only in good working order, but also safe. Electrical problems tend to occur from time to time, and the flickering light is one of the most common. But why does this happen? What should do about it? How can you prevent it from happening? Our electricians offer outstanding electrical repair for such problems, and we can make sure that your entire network of indoor and outdoor lights operates just as it should.

There are plenty of reasons why your light may be flickering, but the most important factor to consider is that there is a gap in the electrical current somewhere. For any wall or ceiling-mounted fixture, there is both a set of wires that link that light into the circuit as well as to the wiring within the wall switch box. There could be a loose connection in either of these two place. It could also be related to a faulty socket, wall switch, wiring or even the light bulb itself. It should go without saying that flickering lights are not something to be taken lightly (if you’ll excuse the pun). Even relatively small issues such as this can result in fire hazards.

You’ll want to stay far away from any live wiring, and we don’t ever recommend you attempting to fix the issue yourself. Not only might you put yourself in harm’s way, but you could also damage nearby wiring and your home itself. What you can do is to check the light bulb. It could be something as simple as that, but you won’t know if you don’t check. If that’s not the issue, then it’s always best to reach out to a professional electrician so that the problem can be addressed quickly and correctly.