{"id":773989,"date":"2024-05-28T04:52:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T02:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=773989"},"modified":"2024-05-28T04:52:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T02:52:01","slug":"these-light-bulbs-are-now-banned-from-being-sold-for-household-use-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/773989\/these-light-bulbs-are-now-banned-from-being-sold-for-household-use-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"These light bulbs are now banned from being sold for household use in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition\u2019s ban on the sale of a range of incandescent and compact fluorescent lamp light bulbs kicked in on Friday, 24 May 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A notice by Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel effectively banned sales of regular fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs for general household use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new rules aim to enhance light bulbs’ safety, performance, and energy efficiency in South African homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specifications don\u2019t single out specific technologies like fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. However, they set minimum energy-efficiency standards these lamps can\u2019t reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first phase kicked in last week, setting a minimum luminous efficacy of 90 lumens per watt (lm\/W) for regular electric lamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, it essentially bans the sale of any type of lamp, except for LED lamps, for household use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A MyBroadband analysis revealed that typical incandescent bulbs sold through South African retailers are well below the standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incandescent bulbs achieve luminous efficiency figures between 4 lm\/W and 12 lm\/W, well below the stipulated 90 lm\/W.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs sold at popular South African retailers achieved a performance of between 47 lm\/W and 70 lm\/W, which was also below the minimum standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, retailers are expected to phase out the sale of fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs for general household use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savvy Saver managing director Grant Pattison welcomed the ban, calling it a good and obvious step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pattison previously served as chief executive of Massmart, Edcon, and NRG Energy, which means he is well-positioned to comment on the ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulations will drive the adoption of LED light bulbs, which will help households save electricity and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit is that it will remove complexity and make it easier for shoppers to compare light bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers will now have a limited choice of LED bulbs instead of a range of incandescent, compact fluorescent, and LED bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from saving energy and making households safer, it will also help reduce harmful waste associated with compact fluorescent lamp bulbs, which contain mercury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Exclusions to the new rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that the new rules are in force, it will take time for incandescent and compact fluorescent lamp light bulbs to disappear from the shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eurolux told retailers a sales permit was available to continue stocking low-efficiency lamps until the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules also have numerous exclusions which allow the lamps to be sold for specific uses, like inside a braai or for warming purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ban specifically excludes the following lamps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Lights for chemical or biological processes include animal care, horticulture, and UV curing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lights for image projection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Signalling lights.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Studio and theatre lighting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lighting for scenes or objects with negative effects on certain light sources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Emergency lighting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Lighting for ambient temperatures over 120\u00b0 C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This means that the high-energy-consuming bulbs will likely continue to be sold, but only for special purposes, and should not be used for general-purpose lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    BusinessTech looked at online retailers’ light bulb ranges, and it was easy to find incandescent and compact fluorescent lamp light bulbs for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Most incandescent bulbs were already described as \u201crough service globes\u201d and seem to conform to at least some of the exclusion parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The attack on incandescent bulbs did not stop with the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In February 2024, the National Treasury announced tax hikes on incandescent bulbs to encourage the uptake of LED lamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    National Treasury increased the levy on incandescent bulbs from R15 to R20 per bulb from 1 April 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThis complements the phase-out of inefficient light bulbs and promotes compliance with the new energy efficiency standards published in May 2023 by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition,\u201d Treasury said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition banned the sale of a range of light bulbs for household use in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":774007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[19957,19959,19958,609,19956],"class_list":["post-773989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-compact-fluorescent-lamp-light-bulbs","tag-grant-pattison","tag-incandescent-light-bulbs","tag-led","tag-trade-and-industry-minister-ebrahim-patel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773989"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774041,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773989\/revisions\/774041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}