Mercury lights up a way to cut bills

Replacing five of the most used bulbs in the house with Ecobulbs will lead to big savings, says Mark Carter. Picture / Greg Bowker

Auckland electricity consumers could save more than $5 on their monthly power bills and enough electricity to power 6,000 homes if they adopt energy efficient lightbulbs.

Mercury Energy is sending all residential customers a voucher to buy five Ecobulbs for $10 (saving $2.95 a bulb and up to $680 on power over the expected nine-year life of the bulb).

Mercury Energy consumer markets general manager Mark Carter said replacing five of the most used bulbs in the house with the Ecobulbs was an easy way to save on power bills.

"I think the consumer gets a great deal,"he said.

Partial funding for the vouchers comes from the Electricity Commission, which has a goal of getting 3.5 million energy efficient lightbulbs into New Zealand households. "There is huge potential for energy savings at a very low cost," said Bruce Girdwood, senior adviser on electricity efficiency at the commission.

Ecobulbs used 80 per cent less power than a regular lightbulb and could save New Zealand households up to $500 million over the lifetime of the bulb if the Electricity Commission target was reached, Mr Girdwood said.

The Ecobulbs were one of two recommended in September last year by the Consumers' Institute. The institute's consumer research manager Peter Rankin said he encouraged people to adopt the energy efficient technology.

The vouchers will be mailed to householders this week.