Have you noticed a mysterious upsurge in your monthly electricity bills despite using the same home appliances for the same amount of time you generally do? If so, perhaps it’s time to inspect your home’s electrical system.
Before you accuse your electricity service provider of inflating your bills, you need to take a closer look at your electrical system to ensure it is not the cause of the problem. To help you bring down your utility bills, we have identified several reasons why your electrical system could be running up your electricity bills.
Faulty Wiring
If your electrical system has some frayed or broken wires, your electricity bills are going to rise. Damaged wires cause the connected devices and appliances to heat up, thus consuming more power. Therefore, you need to do a thorough inspection of your electrical system to ensure there are no frayed or broken wires. If there are, you need to replace them immediately. Make sure a professional electrician does this inspection and repairs to avoid accidents.
Old Wiring
Old electrical cables are known to cause fire accidents and arc faults. Also, they are unable to handle the electrical draw of new and advanced home appliances. So, the latest appliances end up drawing more power. Therefore, if you have noticed a sudden rise in your electricity bills and your home is a few decades old, you need to hire a professional electrician to do a full inspection of your electrical system. If there are old wires in the system, they should be replaced immediately.
Circuit Breaker that Doesn’t Reset
When there is a short in the circuit breaker, the system tends to draw more power, which increases your utility bills. So, you need to make sure there isn’t a short in any of your circuit breakers. Start by turning off all the circuit breakers in your electrical panel and turn them back on one by one while watching the disc spin. Any disc with a disc that seems to be spinning too fast should be replaced immediately.
Faulty Underground Wiring
If nothing in your indoor and outdoor electrical system seems to be problematic, you should check your underground wiring for defects. If the underground cables are not installed correctly or punctured by shifting rocks due to frequent freezing and thawing of the ground, the result is a short and sudden rise in electricity bills. So, you need to hire a professional electrician to inspect your underground cables and do the necessary repairs.
