both TonyRo76 and LasVegasDave.
Posted on 10/07/2009 6:25:04 AM PDT by EBH
AKRON, Ohio -- FirstEnergy Corp. plans to provide nearly 4 million low-energy light bulbs to its residential electricity customers in Ohio.
Akron-based FirstEnergy said Monday that distribution will begin in mid-October. Two compact fluorescent light bulbs will be mailed or hand-delivered to residential customers of Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. and Toledo Edison.
The cost of the program will be underwritten by customers, who FirstEnergy said can recover three times the cost through projected energy savings. Reports indicate that there will be a 60 cent charge on customers' bills for the next three years.
The program approved by state regulators is meant to reduce electricity usage and increase awareness of energy conservation.
The CFL bulbs use up to 75 percent less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs.
The bulbs are not FREE. The bulbs are not being requested by the consumer. I did not seek to buy them and don't want them. And this is false advertising!
You know, I actually gave these dumb bulbs a shot, and they last no longer than the old bulbs, and it’s a pain-in-the-patoot to dispose of them.
Here is the reply I received from my complaint to First Energy, basically they don’t care how people feel, they want their money: Thank you for utilizing FirstEnergy’s Customer Care website for your account needs. Ohio Edison/Toledo Edison/The Illuminating Company is focused on helping our customers lower their electric bills by reducing energy use and increasing the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses. CFLs are simple yet effective tools for saving energy. For example, replacing a single 100-watt incandescent bulb with a CFL of the same light output can reduce your electric bill by $10 a year. Thats $10 for every bulb you switch, so your savings can add up.
If a delivery person comes to your house when you are home, please simply ask them not to deliver the bulbs to your home, and they will move on. If you do receive bulbs either through the mail or at your door feel free to give them to a neighbor, friend or a family member. If you want to dispose of them, check if your municipality permits you to put CFLs in the garbage. If so, seal the bulb in two plastic bags and put it into the outside trash, or other protected outside location, for the next normal trash collection. If not, you will need to properly recycle the bulbs. CFL recycling is available free of charge at The Home Depot stores or your municipality might have other CFL recycling programs available.
This CFL program is part of a statewide effort under Ohios new energy law (Senate Bill 221) to reduce the amount of electricity customers use. As with most state-mandated programs that are designed to benefit all residential customers such as energy efficiency programs and environmental projects the costs incurred by the utilities to implement the program are included in residential customer rates. So all customers share the costs of the programs over a period of several years.
Sincerely,
Rachel Customer Service
I’m on my second year on my bulbs....They last and last and last.....And my electric use did go down.
I wish electrical utilities, given their monopoly status, could be legally prevented in engaging in any business that detracts from their ability to produce power at a reasonable cost to consumers and a healthy profit for them. I am tired of my bill going up year after year to pay for crap that has nothing to do with power.
I plan on simply writing on the box....
Return to Sender.
...drop them off at FIRSTENERGY.....(in the middle of the night)
You can get them for $2 a bulb in packages of 3 at Walmart.
I like CFLs as well, for the same reasons you cite. But I am sure we both agree that people should be free to buy whatever bulbs they wish to use.
Mine don’t last. I was actually told to replace all my fixtures.
I have a standard bulb in my house that’s going on FIVE YEARS! So what.
You can get them for $2 a bulb in packages of 3 at Walmart.
They're using the same variant of mathematics that the federal government uses.
The other half of this is they are saying the bulbs are FREE! They are not FREE!
Not surprising, since it sounds like this is being driven by an overbearing government mandate imposed on the utility.
I've only used 4 cfl bulbs. Each has burned out within a month.
Is this unusual? I don't have any problem in the same fixtures with incandescent (real ;0) bulbs. They last and last....
Cut power to government offices then. Problem solved.
Well, CFLs are not ideal for all lights. CFLs won't work properly with any light that uses a dimmer of any kind, or any light that is on a motion detector or low light sensor trigger because those things do not completely cut off power to the bulb. With incandescent bulbs this is not a problem because there isn't enough power to light the bulb, but with CFLs, the electronics which are in the base of the bulb will get damaged.
I have CFLs for all of my light bulbs, but for my fixtures which are on dimmers, I stick with traditional incandescent bulbs.
No. I had heard about that.
Two of the bulbs came included with two floor lamps given to us as gifts. The other two were bought as replacements at the local Food Lion. Should be standard, at least the last two.
Nobody I know likes the color of the light. I hate it. But that is separate from the longevity issue.
There should NOT be a law concerning this IMO.
Will that remain legal in the future? (I didn't have any of my cfls on dimmers, BTW.)
Wait until someone gets seriously harmed by the toxic bulb - will they be able to sue? That definitely will spike consumers’ costs. Free? I don’t think so.
But what about the new electric cars Detroit is supposed to be making? This is ridiculous - we’re supposed to save a couple of kilowatts on lightbulbs but then use massive amounts of electricity on our cars?
Most people, like myself, just keep going with what they're comfortable with because change feels like "experimenting".
Remember that first teflon pan...after years of scrubbing steel.
Americans are always looking for the better mouse trap...
I thought a ban on traditional bulbs was put in place under Bush... after 2012 you won't be able to buy them I think.
I have the same problem. I’ve had 7 die after less than 9 months.
They hum,take time to fully warm up, and the light quality sucks.
I love my CFL bulb. The Saskatchewan Roughriders logo it projects onto my ceiling is uber-cool!
I built my house 15 years ago. I replaced many of the original bulbs last year with CFLs. Now, I am replacing many of the CFLs that lasted less than a year. They seem to have more trouble with ceiling fans (vibration) and with closed fixtures (i.e. no air circulation). I have replaced more CFLs in the past year than I replaced standard bulbs in 14 years.
Yes, this actually IS Bush's fault IIRC. (grumble grumble)
Yes, there is a “decorative” bulb exception in the law.
That's good to know. Thanks.
We’ve been stockpiling 100W bulbs for over year now.
Wow, think how much you can save if only they raise the rates high enough.
This is ridiculous.....I hate the damn bulbs. they give no light and most take forever to warm up. I'll be stocking up on the old bulbs.
When I moved into my home 7 years ago, I had to replace a 4ft. flourescent in the kitchen. The package said the new one would last 7 years. I’ve replaced it now 3 times.
Oh, and by the way, we have a new energy efficient refrigerator being delivered next week to your home, and the small monthly charge being added to your bill will only be $150/month for 48 months. We care!
Also, could we have the key to your house, so we can do unannounced energy audits. These are provided to you free* of charge (*a tiny service charge will be added to your bill for this free service). And one last thing, that dishwasher you have, it has got to go, took much energy is being wasted. (there is a $400 removal and disposal fee associated with such removal) Call to schedule removal. On the other, we have your key, no need for an appointment. We care!
Well, thank you for your business. We care!**
**Note: As we strive to save our customers money on their energy use, we have seen enormous energy reductions through the steps taken to save you money, therefore our profits have not been enough to sustain our double-digit pay increases this past year to our under-worked employees, as mandated by our 'caring' union. This is a 3-day warning to advise you we are raising your monthly rates 18% for the next 5 years, proactive to the beginning of last year.
Sincerely,
SCRU-U Energy Technologists
your hometown 'caring' company
Those mercury bulbs are an environmental nightmare. LED lights will win out because they use half the electricity and last longer. Al Gore proves he is no expert when he starts talking mercury CFL bulbs and cannot even say LED.
Dear FirstEnergy,
I have already switched to non-incandescent bulbs at considerable personal expense. I am appalled that I find myself on the receiving end of another government TAX. I will be returning any bulbs you attempt to deliver and I will be refusing to pay your TAX added to my bill for services I neither requested nor accepted.
The long-term unintended consequences of foisting CFL’s on the public is irresponsible when there are other far safer and energy saving alternatives out there. The ongoing disregard of the green movement to accept the responsiblity of real stewardship is driving the energy makers to an irresponsible action.
Sincerely,
This is all you need to know. DemocRAT state government, stupid unfunded mandates.
Just throw them in the trash. If you have one of those militant community trash inspection programs, drop them off in the dumpster at the nearest apartment complex. Watch for cameras - everybody's got them.
FREE LIGHT BULBS???
Yeah right. It’s only free if you sit on yer ass and get paid not to work. Which of course is SOP in NE Ohio.
The rest of us foot the bill, of course. And then there is the problems these bulbs cause with sensitive people and headaches.....
Is this unusual? I don't have any problem in the same fixtures with incandescent (real ;0) bulbs. They last and last....
Yes, that is unusual. My first CFL, bought back in the late 1980's, lasted about 14 years and I used it as my night light when I was not home. I have had bad experiences with some cheap brands. "Lights of America" brand were junk - they did NOT last. Phillips, GE, and Sylvania all last.
I had a Phillips bulb in my outdoor post lamp in Ohio (low-temperature capable, they aren't all like that). It ran all night, every night and lasted about 2 years. Compared to 2 months for an ordinary incandescent light.
The CFL's have their place - I use them in most of my lamps without problems. They are fine in some applications. But - I don't use them in the bathroom, and I do not like them on can lighting (downward facing flood lights) because the seem to take a while to reach full brightness in those applications.
Only the government or other bureaucracy would have the balls to call that "free."
Just saying.
For an encore, the water department will start distributing new efficient toilets at $25,000 a shot...
"We're the gummint, and we're here to help..."
I saw six-packs of CFL's at FRY's electronics in Vegas this past July, they were approximately $0.48 each...or $2.88 for the six-pack..!
That's cheaper than beer, though not as enjoyable.
I suppose I'll grudgingly have to learn to live with them. I'm really not in a position to hoard incandescents nor do I really want to.
I've read several places that as the price of the cfls has come down they have become unpredictable in how long they'll last. I'm also not overly concerned with the mercury thing but I don't know how seriously to take the complicated clean-up instructions.
Since I rent I almost feel like if one breaks I'll call the landlord. I don't want to be responsible and I probably won't install any more until the law forces me to so I'll have a case that I wouldn't have used (and broken) one voluntarily so it's not my fault. I'm a victim! ;0)
” Each has burned out within a month.
Is this unusual?”
My brother got some “give away” CFL bulbs a couple of years ago from
our local municipal utility.
All blew out within two months.
He did pony up the money for (IIRC) GE-brand CFLs...still going strong
after two years.
Thus I would (with this limited sample size) presume there is some
level of variability of quality/durability depending on the manufacturer
of the CFLs. He couldn’t remember for sure, but thought the short-lived
CFLs from the utility were sort of “no-name” branded. Or at least
a brand name he didn’t recognize like GE or Sylvania, etc.
Join my in my protest and “Return to Sender.” Plus I’ll be deducting the .60 surcharge (tax) from my bill!
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