News Release > When Putting Lights Up, Don’t Let Your Guard Down

When Putting Lights Up, Don’t Let Your Guard Down

12/01/2020

Consider LEDs for safety and efficiency if you haven't switched already.

Little Rock, Ark – While the pandemic has put a damper on the season, many are finding that reviving and even expanding the tradition of decorating for the holidays is a great way to add some cheer and normalcy to otherwise troubled times.

When it comes to decorating with lights, Entergy has a few suggestions to avoid safety hazards associated with holiday lights.

• Most modern strings of lights use LED technology. If you haven’t upgraded to LED, consider doing so. They don’t get hot, require little energy, put out lots of light, can incorporate snazzy technology, and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
• Never leave your lights on unattended. This takes some effort, but it’s important. Turn off your outdoor lights when you go to bed.
• Don’t use indoor lights outdoors. Outdoor lights are sealed against moisture. When running extension cords along the ground, elevate plugs and connectors with a brick, to keep snow, water and debris out of the connections.
• When putting up lights outside from a rooftop or with a ladder, stay away from power lines.
• Plug no more than three light strands into one electrical outlet. You can calculate energy demand and maximum capacity of your home’s circuit, but, to be safe, keeping the number of strands down to three is a good rule of thumb.
• Toss out old lights. Old ornaments, old manger scenes, old figurines on the mantle: all good. Old lights, though, can be dangerous. Discard and buy some new ones, preferably LED. Modern lights have safety features built in that the older ones don’t have.
• Don’t put electric lights on metal trees. Metal conducts electricity. A frayed wire could energize your tree and deliver a dangerous shock.
• If you buy a real tree, be sure it’s reasonably fresh when you get it, then keep it watered. Christmas trees are the leading cause of house fires during the holidays. Keeping your tree watered will make it less flammable. Once it’s dried out, and certainly after Christmas, remove the hazard from your home.

Make the season bright. Cheer up your home and the neighborhood by lighting up the night. But do so safely by following these tips.

Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to approximately 715,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Arkansas is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR), an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 9,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of $11 billion and approximately 13,500 employees.