Hello all!
The local electric utility (a tentacle of American Electric Power in
Ohio) sent out CFL coupons in the bills for our area last month. The
coupons actually had the name of the utility serving an area east of
here (also part of AEP). The coupon was for $6 off of a 5 or 6 pack of
GE CFLs. Since it expired 31 October, I went to Wal-Mart on Friday.
Wal-Mart was selling 6-packs of GE CFLs for $13.88 (100 W equivalent)
and $11.88 (60 and 75 W equivalent), or $7.88 and $5.88 with the coupon.
I almost went for the 75 W ones, on the basis that paying less than a
dollar for a name brand CFL is a heck of a deal, but I decided to go
for the 100 W ones. Even at $1.31 apiece, they were cheaper than the
"Great Value" Wal-Mart store brand CFLs; based on past inspection, the
Wal-Mart and GE CFLs appear to be manufactured by the same company. Tax
here is about 8.5%, so the lamps ended up costing about $1.43 each out
the door. (The 60 or 75 W ones would have been about $1.06 with tax.)
While I was shopping, I noticed that the plain old incadescent lamps had
also changed. There were no 60 W, 75 W, or 100 W lamps for sale.
Instead, there were (from memory) 52 W, 65 W, and 87 W lamps, each with
a few less lumens than the previous "standard" ratings. This was in
both the GE and Wal-Mart brand product lines. Is this a regulatory
requirement, or just an effort on the part of lamp manufacturers to
offer a slightly "greener" product?
Also, while I was shopping, another customer picked up a box of the
Wal-Mart brand CFLs and wondered aloud if they really worked. I almost
decided to talk about my mostly positive experience with them, but then
I decided to be quiet in the interest of science. The main objection
seemed to be the initial purchase price; this customer eventually went
with a 4-pack of incandescent lamps on that basis (about $1 for 4 lamps,
vs about $8 for 6 lamps). The plural of anecdote is not data, but it
seems like maybe the lamp manufacturers have a little more work to do in
selling the energy cost savings. (Elsewhere in that same store, there
is a display that includes a small calculator that customers can use to
compute the energy savings of CFLs.)
Matt Roberds
The local electric utility (a tentacle of American Electric Power in
Ohio) sent out CFL coupons in the bills for our area last month. The
coupons actually had the name of the utility serving an area east of
here (also part of AEP). The coupon was for $6 off of a 5 or 6 pack of
GE CFLs. Since it expired 31 October, I went to Wal-Mart on Friday.
Wal-Mart was selling 6-packs of GE CFLs for $13.88 (100 W equivalent)
and $11.88 (60 and 75 W equivalent), or $7.88 and $5.88 with the coupon.
I almost went for the 75 W ones, on the basis that paying less than a
dollar for a name brand CFL is a heck of a deal, but I decided to go
for the 100 W ones. Even at $1.31 apiece, they were cheaper than the
"Great Value" Wal-Mart store brand CFLs; based on past inspection, the
Wal-Mart and GE CFLs appear to be manufactured by the same company. Tax
here is about 8.5%, so the lamps ended up costing about $1.43 each out
the door. (The 60 or 75 W ones would have been about $1.06 with tax.)
While I was shopping, I noticed that the plain old incadescent lamps had
also changed. There were no 60 W, 75 W, or 100 W lamps for sale.
Instead, there were (from memory) 52 W, 65 W, and 87 W lamps, each with
a few less lumens than the previous "standard" ratings. This was in
both the GE and Wal-Mart brand product lines. Is this a regulatory
requirement, or just an effort on the part of lamp manufacturers to
offer a slightly "greener" product?
Also, while I was shopping, another customer picked up a box of the
Wal-Mart brand CFLs and wondered aloud if they really worked. I almost
decided to talk about my mostly positive experience with them, but then
I decided to be quiet in the interest of science. The main objection
seemed to be the initial purchase price; this customer eventually went
with a 4-pack of incandescent lamps on that basis (about $1 for 4 lamps,
vs about $8 for 6 lamps). The plural of anecdote is not data, but it
seems like maybe the lamp manufacturers have a little more work to do in
selling the energy cost savings. (Elsewhere in that same store, there
is a display that includes a small calculator that customers can use to
compute the energy savings of CFLs.)
Matt Roberds
