Energy Saving Light Bulbs

What's the deal?

There are a couple of seriously cheap suppliers of energy saving lightbulbs at the moment. Netto shoppers will be able to get them for just 49p, whilst others can pop into John Lewis where they're 99p (and sometimes availble online with free delivery too). This offers significant savings (especially if you want to stock your house up) as these bulbs usually retail for around £3.

Are they worth it?

Put it like this; at this price they're roughly the same price as normal bulbs, yet they last for approx. six years and according to the energy saving trust can save you up to £9 a year on your electricity bill! Never mind the benefit to the environment.

One tiny note though, energy saving lightbulbs don't work well with dimmer switch lights.

Where to get them.

The cheap prices are based around two store chains (please report if you find them elsewhere for less in the thread below)

• Netto Bayonet cap bulbs 49p. MoneySavers report super cheap supermarket chain Netto is selling Bayonet Cap (the fitting of your lamp, this is the one with two prongs sticking out of it, the alternative being an Edison Screw format) energy saving light bulbs for less than 50p. These include 11w, 14w and 18w bulbs, the equivalent to 60, 75 and 100 Watts standard bulbs.
  
  Similar energy saving light bulbs sell for £2.99 on Amazon or £2.78 at Tesco so at Netto these bulbs are most definitely a bargain.
  
  Netto's renowned for selling out of bargains fast, so if you wish contact your nearest store by either calling or emailing to check they're still in stock.
  
  
• John Lewis 99p for bayonet and screw bulbs. John Lewis is selling a range of energy saving light bulbs at 99p each. This includes both Bayonet Cap and Edison Screw bulbs, at either 11w or 18w (equivalent to 60w and 100w normal bulbs).
  
  According to its press office, there are thousands available in John Lewis stores nationwide. If you want to make sure your local store has these in stock, locate your nearest John Lewis and give it a call.
  
  As for online, at the moment it has no stock, but an abundance of these bulbs are due at the beginning of next week. Use this link* to check if any become available.

More details on the impact of energy saving bulbs.

Lighting accounts for approx. 15% of each electricity bill. By replacing standard bulbs with energy saving ones, around five times less electricity is used.

According to the Energy Saving Trust (based on the assumption a traditional 100W bulb is replaced with a 20W energy saving bulb, with electricity cost of 10.41p/kWh and 1,114 hours of use per year) each energy saving bulb used can knock up to £9 off your annual bill. On average they also last 12 times longer than standard bulbs meaning you won't need to re-buy as frequently.

Martin

PS: Obviously to also cut the cost of energy you should also switch to the cheapest supplier. Read the switch energy supplier plus get £20 cashback article.

PPS: This discussion was originally started by the poster immediately below. This entry has been inserted so I can put an official, fully researched MoneySavingExpert.com explanation at the top. Thank you to withabix for the top spot.


* Using these links helps the site stay ad-free and free to use, as they’re ‘affiliated links’ which invisibly take you via commercial price comparison services like Moneysupermarket or Find, which then pay this site per click. You shouldn’t notice any difference, the links don’t impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn’t possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it is still recommended and still included. For the sake of transparency go to johnlewis.com for an unaffiliated link. Click on the following link for more details on how this site’s financed.