The below article about our Online Electrician of the Year Award was published this week in our local Stirling Observer newspaper.

"Downlighters are one of the most attractive ways to brighten up your home, but poorly installed downlighters (recessed luminaires) are the cause of a significant number of fires in homes every year."

Follow the below advice from the Electrical Safety Council.

Also why not remove those power hungry hot halogen downlight lamps and replace them with LED lamps - we can advise, supply and install.

Downlighters and Fire Safety

Interesting hearing the UK Prime Minister David Cameron address the Federation of Small Business Conference today stating that he intends to reduce red tape for small businesses. 

While I welcome any reduction in red tape that affects my company but I doubt there will be many on the PM's hit list that will ease our individual burden and I also await with welcome open arms the £2000 Employers PAYE Tax benefit that comes into effect on 1st April, but let me tell you about the type of red tape which he should be easing on small businesses.

Just over year ago we paid by electronic BACS to HMRC our Corporation Tax which importantly goes into the same HMRC bank account as our monthly PAYE payments but just a different reference number.

At our first PAYE payment after our Corporation Tax payment we forgot to change the reference number back to the PAYE one but our payment still went through on time and the HMRC received it.

Shortly afterwards we were contacted by telephone by an abrupt civil servant warning us about telephone conversations being recorded and telling us we had not paid our PAYE but we commented we had, coincidentally that very same day a cheque arrived by post made out to us from HMRC not stating what it was for but it was for the same amount as our PAYE payment.

It didn't take us long to work out what had happened and on explaining this to HMRC we were told that to avoid a fine (remember we had paid on time initially and HMRC had received our payment, we just got the reference number wrong) we had to send to them by BACS within 24 hours another PAYE payment for the initial amount, obviously this time with the correct reference number......but wait the cheque they had sent us would take five days to clear.

So we had to for a short amount of time until the cheque cleared fork out double our PAYE payment all because of bureaucratic rules and a lack of common sense especially as it was obvious we had made our original payment on time.

How can they expect a small business to fork out twice, even for a small amount of time and why could they not reimburse us through our bank by BACS or even more bizarrely why could one HMRC department not speak to another and just swap the amount around into the correct PAYE / Corporation Tax section on their computer system.

Now thats the type of red tape crap that ties us small businesses up and the type that needs to be sorted.

This recent survey has found that we are all getting there with using energy saving lamps which was mostly helped by the ban on the sale of certain incandescent lamps (traditional 100 watt lamps) a few years back hence that large uptake of compact fluorescent light bulbs which the survey found.

Understandably the survey also found that presently the uptake of LED lamps is less but my bet is that will change within the next 12-24 months.

We have been a large user of LED lights and lamps when it comes to underunit kitchen lights and especially garden lights but over the past 18 months we have seen a large increase in us changing the traditional energy hungry 50 watt downlight lamps in houses with LED lamps. It's not only inside the house we have recently seem big advances as we are now installing LED floodlights instead of 500 watt halogen floodlights which are still a common site lighting up rear gardens. 

The reason for this is the light brightness and colour output has improved greatly as well as a reduction in the price of these lamps - we currently install branded and reliable LED lamps for around £6.00. Yes, around £5 more than those power hungry halogen lamps but In real terms that is a 5 watt LED lamp instead of a 50 watt halogen lamp for the same light output and in our opinion a no brainer as we all look to improve the energy efficiency of our homes in the face of rising energy costs.

If you look back at some of our blog posts you will see samples of our LED lights and lamps work.

We recently completed the electrical work including audio/visual, aerial work and installation of new flat screen tv at a new extension and kitchen conversion in Stirling. Where possible the lights installed were of energy saving LED type.

Fallin based electrical contractor Stirling Electrical Services Ltd. were one of the winners in the UK wide Online Electrician of the Year Awards for 2013. 

The company picked up the Silver Award for the best use of on-line services and social media, an accolade which recognises innovation and digital achievement on a national scale in the electrical sector.

Director Scott McLean commented “we are delighted to have received this award especially as the judges were from some of the most respected manufacturers in the electrical industry. 

We have had an online presence since 1999 and understand the importance of providing services and information to prospective and existing clients through our website and social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube."

More Information:-

• My Local Electrician
  
• Online Electrician Awards
• Electrical Times