An easy way to start saving on your electric bill right away is to change the type of bulbs you use to light your home. If you can screw in a light bulb, you can save 75% or more on the lighting costs on your electric bill. Just switch out those old incandescent bulbs for new compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). CFLs also emit less heat than standard bulbs.

Start by just changing one bulb. Did you know that if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars? – U.S. Department of Energy, www.energy.gov

Another new lighting technology with a bright future is the LED bulb. LED stands for light emitting diode, and also stands for great energy savings. Once only used for small indicator lights like the one on your TV or DVD player, retailers have now started to offer LED lights for the home, including holiday lights.

Ever wonder just how much it costs to light up your house and tree for the holidays? Probably less than you think. It costs only $1.37 per month to run a string of 200 miniature holiday lights for about five hours a day. Or, if you want to save energy, you can purchase LED holiday bulbs. The cost to power 200 LED bulbs is only 19 cents per month. According to the Alliance to Save Energy, each LED bulb uses only about one-tenth of the energy used by mini-lights. Another great benefit of the LED is that they last a long time and don’t produce heat, which helps eliminate fire hazards.

Shopping tip: buy next year’s LED holiday lights when they go on sale after the holidays. You’ll save now on the bulbs and save later on energy.

Gulf Power Company is an investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta-based Southern Company. Gulf Power serves more than 400,000 customers in 10 counties throughout Northwest Florida. The company’s mission is to safely deliver affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible energy to very satisfied customers in strong communities.