Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

For all you that pay their bills to British Gas they've been advertising that all their customers are going to get 4 free energy saving bulbs from them. Well today came home from work and my free bulbs were on the doorstep. 2 60watt and 2 40 watt ones. Now i dont use 60watt bulbs or 40 watt bulbs but i do still have 9 100 watt energy saving ones from when mum was alive on the warmfront scheme. I have replaced the ones i use most with the energy saving ones and still have the other 9 up on top of the kitchen cupboard waiting for use... which will probably last me for the rest of my life!!! What a waste of money though sending me 4 bulbs - if they had contacted me i would have said i dont need them especially as they are 60 and 40 watt ones - i dont have any lamps!!!! I think i would prefer to have the money they spent on my bulbs knocked off my bill.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

my grandad's had the same problem...... i dont mind, he keeps me supplied with bulbs :D

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Yes elderly relatives pass their spare bulbs to us, our house is like an energy saving bulb circus......they are everywhere

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

i would use these type of bulbs if they didnt take 20 mins to actualy reach the level of light they claim to be ;)

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Then don't buy the cheapest ones you can find. Good quality ones strike almost instantly and are almost at full brightness.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

The ones i have all strike up pretty quickly too.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I haven't had mine from British Gas yet.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Well Neil you've guest it the ones from BG take a bloody age to light up, so they must be cheapies:D

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Theyre Philips ones that ive got.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I hope Philip doesn't mind you having them!!

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Hee Hee, very good.:D:D

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Dont think he minds slinks - as long as he got the money for them....

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Don’t kid yourself, the bulbs are not free. BG customers paid for them in the recent price increases.

This is just a ruse to mitigate those recent price rises and those yet to come later this year.

I wonder how much energy is used to make an energy saving bulb, compared to a normal hot filament bulb? Then there are the costs and energy to dispose of them. You can’t just chuck them on a tip. Not when they contain mercury you can’t.

I wonder what the profit margin is on an energy saving bulb. If these bulbs sell at say £10 each the profit margin is likely to be at least £2.50. Traditional bulbs sell at no more than £1 each and their profit margin is going to be about 25p. Who’s conning whom?

Motability sent me two the other day. Megaman Compact 2000 rated at 11w with a claimed life of 10,000 hours. The blurp that came with them reads:
“The enclosed bulbs last up to 6 times longer than a traditional light bulb and could save you up to £28 per year in electricity costs – that’s nearly £190 over their lifetime.”

It is supposed to be the equivalent of a normal hot filament 60w bulb. But it ain’t. This energy saving bulb is rated at 650 lumens. A normal 60w bulb is rated at 700 lumens. Thus it is not quite as bright.

You might think that the difference is hardly noticeable but I can notice the difference.

When you consider that a TV gobbles up electricity as if it is going out of fashion and most houses will have a TV on for several hours per day, changing to low energy bulbs isn’t going to make that much of an energy saving.

Just think – how many hours in a day do you have a light on somewhere?

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I dont have energy saving bulbs (but do have flourescent light in kitchen and bathroom) I dont even know if they do energy saving bulbs for my living room light fitting (it takes 5 of those little screw in golf ball ones) cant say ive ever looked when im shopping though, I just always buy the ordinary ones. But in saying that I rarely have my TV on (if i can help it) and most other things get switched off at the socket etc when not in use so am not too bad for wasting energy in other areas.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Its surprising just how much you save by turning things off at the plug, I was told the other day that if you leave your TV on standby instead of switching it off, it costs £45 per year:eek:

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Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

perhaps british gas should stop sending out bulbs and charge less for electricity and gas

they send you energy saving bulbs so you use less electricity but because you are using less electricity their proffits drop so they hike up the prices to cover what you arnt spending anymore because your using less electricity which is their own fault for sending out energy saving bulbs

hope that made sense lol

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Im not with british Gas so i wont get any bulbs......am i bothered?...............am i eck, cuz i already have em;)

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I put the energy saving bulbs in the lights i use most often the living room and the stairs but otherwise all the rest have normal ones in. I think since mum died 2 and half years ago ive only changed one light bulb.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I have been using low energy bulbs since 1991
I buy mine online (as I do everything)
Here is a chart from one supplier I have bought from which shows how much cash you can save by using them
http://www.lamps2udirect.com/pages/calculator.php

And at this site
http://www.ebulbshop.com/
you can see what a wide range of shapes and sizes are produced nowadays

British Gas sound like they are giving away the older type which nobody will buy anymore.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I suppose its helpful that they send new energy saving bulbs if you have any lamps!

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Are you using gaslight, or candles? :confused:

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

NO ENERGY SAVING BULBS, ALL NORMAL BULBS IN MY HOUSE:p

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

I believe Cashy has some spare ones going cheap. that's another T shirt I'm not going to win

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

Presumably these bulbs have to be manufactured, and delivered, I wouldnt think that it is cost effective, or efficient to deliver so many bulbs to so many doorsteps, its just another British Gas con, they want you to think they are giving you something, they have fat cat shareholders, you can rest assured they will not be out of pocket, Google Page Ranking at its best, or worst dependent on how you view it.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

We get our gas and electric from British gas, does that mean we will get 2 lots free
to go with the 9 i still have left from homewise(warmfront scheme):D

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

The lamps cost nothing like £10, less than a couple of quid in Asda.

Think of the saving nationally not just personally.

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

No mick you dont - i only got 4 and i get both from british gas as well. Hey thats were the rest of mine come from as well.... :D

Re: Free light bulbs from British Gas
 

You are right they have become a lot cheaper than since the last time I looked.

I got some 100w (1365 lumens) traditional bulbs today at 44p for TWO. The nearest equivalent in low energy (1130 lumens) bulbs would cost just under two quid EACH.

I have one 100w bulb in the living room, bedroom, kitchen, washroom and lobby. A 60w bulb in a table lamp over the TV and a 15w pigmy (switchboard) bulb in a bedside lamp. For nearly nine months in a year the 100w bulbs just gather dust. Even in winter they rarely get switched on. The bedside light gets switched on for less than five minutes per day as I prepare for bed. The lamp over the TV is only switched on when it gets darkish in the living room.

I haven’t changed a 100w bulb for over 8 years and I can’t remember when was the last time that I changed the 15w bulb. The TV lamp generally lasts about 6 months. The saving per year can be counted in pennies and that would be eaten away with the cost of LE bulbs.

If I were to use low energy bulbs everywhere, the room lights would last some 60 years, the bedside light at least 100 years and the TV light maybe 5 years. At 71 I’m unlikely to last 60 more years.

Although I do care what happens to this planet my contribution would be less that negligible.