New rules spell end for sales of traditional light bulbs

The sale of traditional incandescent light bulbs will largely be banned under proposed new government regulations.

New guidance published on Tuesday (10 January) by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), stipulates that only low energy use light bulbs such as LEDs will be available in shops.

BEIS proposes, with a few exemptions, that lights sold in the British market will have to meet minimum energy performance standards of 120lm/W from late 2023 and 140lm/W from September 2027.

The proposed standards mean that non-LED lighting technologies, including traditional halogen bulbs, will be phased out from the market.

The paper estimates that the tighter lighting standards will reduce energy demand by 19,700 GWh by 2050, equating to 1.7m tonnes of traded CO2 emissions and around the annual energy consumption of 2.5m households.

Energy minister Lord Callanan said: “As we’ve shown in the government’s energy saving campaign, small changes, like switching to more efficient light bulbs, can add up to big savings.

“By going further with these regulations than either the US or EU, British homes, factories and offices will have some of the cheapest and greenest lighting in the world, helping keep down bills and reducing energy usage.”

The new lighting standards have been published on the same day that Energy UK has banded together with councils and housing groups to brief MPs on bringing forward the £6 billion worth of homes energy efficiency investment announced by the government last autumn.

The energy umbrella body has joined up with the Local Government Association, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the National Housing Federation (NHF) to press ministers to continue prioritising energy efficiency as core to solving to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The four associations have been holding a drop-in event in Parliament on Tuesday to brief MPs on where their constituents can go for more support with bills, including options for improving their homes’ energy efficiency.

They are also calling on the government to work with industry and local government to develop a deliverable, long-term plan for energy efficiency.

This would include bringing forward the £6 billion committed after the next election by chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt towards energy efficiency in November’s Autumn Statement.

And the four bodies are urging ministers to speed up the review of the Energy Performance Certificate framework methodology and create conditions for developing the skilled and qualified workforce in local areas needed to deliver retrofit and energy saving.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “Funding announced to incentivise energy efficiency upgrades needs to be brought forward in time for this winter, not next, and the Government should back industry efforts to accelerate the roll out of domestic energy efficiency programmes.”

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, urged the government to release the remainder of its Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

In addition, a new report published by the Aldersgate Group, calls for existing public energy efficiency funding schemes, including the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) 4 to be protected from cuts and gradually expanded over time.