Georgia Power gives tips on cutting energy costs and being safe during the holiday season

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The holiday season is all about spending time with loved ones and making our spaces decorative and festive. However, with all the light and decorations comes some safety risks and higher energy costs. WALB’s Jim Wallace sat down with a Georgia Power official on how to save money and stay safe this holiday season.

A lot of people thinking about their power bills right now. And of course, everybody is thinking about the Christmas and holiday season. Tell us about energy efficiency tips that Georgia Power has.

“Well during the holidays of course we use a little bit more power than usual. You want to make sure that you are conserving as much energy as you can. For example, if you can use LED lights instead of regular incandescent light bulbs, you will be sure to save energy. LED decorations use about 50 percent less energy than traditional light bulbs. So you can make that investment now, and those lights will last about 10 times longer. You can also find gift-wrapped ways to decorate that are not necessarily lights or that use power. So you can use like festive fiber optics. That way the light source will flow through the fiber cables and you will have multiple points of light. That way you will be nice and pretty but you are not necessarily using power,” Georgia Power media specialist, Amanda Arnold said.

Everybody wants to be pretty but also they want to be safe. Unfortunately, sometimes these Christmas lights that folks use for decades can be a fire hazard.

“Yes, holiday electrical safety is very important. So when you are putting up your lights, make sure you are checking your outlets before you plug anything in. And make sure you are checking for damaged wires. If you have things in the closet, you haven’t used them since last year, there is a possibility the wires may be damaged. So you want to make sure you take care of that before you plug in any type of lighting,” Arnold said.