Bulbs meant for California now on eBay

ROSEMEAD - Southern California Edison is promoting energy savings through the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

But some of those savings appear to be leaving California, according to a utility watchdog group.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) announced Thursday that some of the Energy Star- labeled bulbs SCE has encouraged its ratepayers to use are ending up on eBay or in retail stores outside of California.

An SCE program that promotes use of the bulbs is funded by the utility's ratepayers.

"A substantial amount of that program focuses on getting consumers in California to replace their regular incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents," TURN Executive Director Bob Finkelstein said. "The only reason it makes sense is if the bulb gets replaced in California. So imagine our shock when we went on eBay and and found (these) bulbs, ready to be shipped anywhere in the U.S."

To verify the eBay listing, TURN ordered a couple of cases of the bulbs from an online seller who was reselling Edison and PG&E lightbulbs, he said.

One eBay listing indicated that 600 of the Energy Star-labeled bulbs had been available for purchase, although only 100 were left, according

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to TURN officials. On Thursday, another eBay posting listed 10 compact fluorescent Energy Star-labeled light bulbs for $9.99.

"This price includes a discount, courtesy of Southern California Edison," the label reads, adding that the program is funded by California utility customers and administered by SCE under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.

John Nall, who manages Edison's residential energy efficiency program, said the utility tries to ensure there aren't abuses in the sale of the bulbs.

But to try to monitor where every bulb goes would be cost-prohibitive, he said.

"This program is two years old and in the first year and three quarters we put 15 million CFL products out in stores in our 50,000-square-mile territory," he said. "We have these in over 2,000 stores in our area including home improvement stores and Wal-Marts. And we're very proud of the fact that we have an awful lot of these products in small mom-and-pop drug stores and grocery stores."

In light of those numbers, Nall considers the eBay listings to be anomalies.

"The stores are all using an agreement that says they will not sell these bulbs in bulk, but we don't have a specific cutoff number," he said. "If a store happens to sell a whole bunch and they show up on eBay, we can buy a box and track them back to the store that sold them. And we can discourage the store from doing that again."

Edison works with manufacturers by offering them a rebate if they agree to sell the energy-saving bulbs at a lower price, Nall said.

"They use about 75 percent less energy and last seven to 10 times longer than regular incandescent bulbs," he said. "They're pretty low priced, too. CFLs used to cost $10 to $12 but now you can get them for a dollar in some stores."

Widespread use of the bulbs could save a significant amount of energy statewide and also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

If every household in California swapped out five incandescent light bulbs for CFLs, the greenhouse gas emissions reductions would be equivalent to taking more than 400,000 cars off the road, Edison officials said.

SCE announced last week that it was launching a 12-city tour to promote its "Change A Light, Change the World" campaign.

The utility is encouraging individuals to replace at least one regular incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star-labeled compact fluorescent light bulb in their home or business.

kevin.smith@sgvn.com

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