Burned out over electricity costs





A couple of years ago I wrote a column about my frustration with energy efficient light bulbs. In a nutshell I said they were a sham and light bulb manufacturers were making a killing off of suckers like me who thought they were doing good by the environment.
Consider this the sequel to that column.





Those twisty light bulbs were touted as being able to last for years as opposed to the old fashioned light bulbs that lasted a few months at best. I'm looking at a box of the twisty little deceivers right now and it says in bold type 'Lasts 7 years GUARANTEED'. That's funny because I installed the light bulbs that came from this box just last summer and guess what? Three of the five burned out this week.

On the other side the box of those energy saving mini twister lights is an Energy Star symbol proclaiming the bulbs will save me $376 in energy costs over the 7 years they're in use. It should have read 'íf the lights last that long'.

It's also difficult to appreciate a $376 savings when Premier Dalton McGuinty has guaranteed  all Ontario taxpayers will pay more in electricity costs when he takes all our coal burning plants offline, has every household outfitted with smart meters (peak period billing means more money for hydro, less money for you) and let's not forget the HST that we now get to enjoy on top of the 'debt repayment charge' on every electricity bill.

I'm feeling about as burned out now about electricity costs as these useless twisty bulbs.