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.

You might be tempted to repair your wires on your own, but it is much safer to obtain our electrical wiring repair services. Wiring repair is not only complicated but can be dangerous for those without the proper tools, experience and training. Our electricians have all three of these things. We will take care of your wiring repair needs for a reasonable price, and you can rest easy knowing that your electricity is in good hands.

Plenty of DIYers can complete an electrical project on their own without the help of a certified electrician. Sure, it’s easy to fix minor annoyances with light fixtures or outlets, but not installations, renovations, and major repairs. That’s because what starts out looking pretty straightforward can quickly turn into a disaster. Here’s a look at four specific examples that ElectricMan Inc. can help sort out.

Contact ElectricMan today to prevent a DIY disaster, or for any other electrical needs. ElectricMan is your trusted, local certified electrician with 27 years of experience. For more information, visit the ElectricMan website. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

We all know smoke detectors save lives, but did you know you can make them even more effective by having an electrician install hard-wired smoke detectors? This particular kind of smoke detector works the same as the traditional battery-powered detectors that you typically find in homes. However, the major difference is the fact they are connected to a home’s main power supply. An electrician in Beverly Hills will need to take care of the installation process. At The Electric Connection, the staff is familiar with these kinds of jobs and can get them completed in a timely manner.

One of the key benefits is the fact the hard-wired detectors are all interconnected. When one detector is activated, the rest of the smoke detectors in the house will sound the alarm. This means no matter where you are in the house, as long as you have a hard-wired smoke detector on each floor, you will hear it. Fires that start in the attic, basement or garage can go undetected for minutes or longer because the smoke detector isn’t heard in other parts of the house. With detectors that are all linked together, you don’t have to worry about this. Even if you are downstairs watching television, you will still know when the smoke detector in the attic is going off.

This can save lives and potentially prevent excessive damage to the house by giving you a precious extra few minutes to call for help. Beverly Hills electrical systems like this require certified electricians to install. This ensures the smoke detectors are wired correctly and are not creating another fire risk. In some cases, homeowners insurance will require a certified electrician completes the install. If you would like to learn more about hard-wired smoke detectors and what they can do for you, give The Electric Connection a call today.