Why are my lights flickering? – Here are 7 Reasons why:

• Loose connection (inside the electrical panel, meter socket, or inside your main disconnect)
• Outdated panel
• The utility provider has a loose connection (Example: thunderstorm may have caused this)
• Water damage
• Corrosion in the connection
• A poor repair job is done by an electrician
• Vibrations in the home

How to tell why your lights are flickering:

1. If there are flickering lights throughout your home:
   If all the lights flicker in your home, there’s a good chance you have a loose connection within your electrical system. This could be inside your electrical panel, inside your meter socket, inside your main disconnect, or at the point where your service ties into your local utility provider. That said, there’s also a chance the utility provider could have a loose connection on their end. If you check with your neighbors and no one else has an issue, then there is a good chance that it’s in your system.Water damage in the electrical panel, meter socket and disconnect is often the cause, sometimes improperly installed systems where the correct electrical materials were not used can cause an issue. Corrosion inside the meter socket and disconnect can also cause flickering lights and even cause the connections to overheat and fail.
2. If there are flickering lights in only some parts of your house:
   Flickering lights in some areas of your home means that you have a bad, loose, or corroded connection. This is not normally on the neutral cable but more commonly on one of the two feeder cables, main breaker, disconnect or utility meter, or circuit breaker.Main causes:
   Sometimes your panel is outdated, overloaded, or over capacity for what it was manufactured & designed for. Water damage and corrosion can also be a factor in damage to your electrical panel, main circuit breaker, circuit breaker, meter socket, and disconnect is often the cause. Poor workmanship can be caused by connections not properly torqued or tightened, and wires not terminated correctly. Vibrations in the home can often cause loose connections in the wiring, these connections are found in switch boxes, outlet boxes, ceiling fixture boxes, junction boxes in the attic, basement, crawl space, and even behind the walls.
3. If there is one single light flickering:
   This normally means a bad connection in the light fixture box, a loose or bad lamp, or a bad switch. Note: If you use LED lamps you could have a lamp that is not compatible with your light switchHow much does it cost to fix flickering lights?
   As you can tell there is no exact cost as there are so many variables of what could be causing the lights to flicker. The 1st part would be to get an electrician to assess the situation, and there are normally fees associated with this such as a travel fee, dispatch charge, and then a diagnostic charge. Some companies charge by the hour and some companies use a flat rate pricing method. **Note: Companies that charge by the hour can take as long as they want to find the problem, sometimes people just cannot find where the problem is and leave you with an invoice for their time and the problem unresolved! With a flat rate, you know exactly how much it will be ahead of time and it’s a fixed price
   What to look for when selecting an electrician to find these problems
   • What type of warranty was there
   • How long did you have to wait to get them out there, it may take even longer to come back if they make a mistake, or do not come back at all
   • How did they treat you when they were in your home
   • Did they wear floor savers, and clean up after themselves
   • Did they fully explain what was going on with your electrical system
   • Do they hold an electrical license?
   • Are they a BBB member
   • Did they give you multiple options and let you choose the one that’s right for you?
   • Did they offer to finance for the options they offered
   • Do they have a membership that can help you save money today and in the future with yearly electrical inspections?
   • Will they look at your entire system or just what you asked them to do,
   • What if they did not let you know about any safety concerns?

Meet the Author

Gareth