A Caribbean success story
A Caribbean success story
When the French Environment Protection and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) and the electric utility on the island of Guadeloupe launched a CFL rebate program, 37% of all households responded almost instantly, buying an average of 8 energy-efficient lamps each.
Guadeloupe is a French island in the Caribbean, and is served by the state-owned utility EDF (Elecricité de France). The utility is extremely interested in the possibility of electricity conservation on the island because the retail electricity price of 0.6 French Francs (FF)/per kWh (appr. 11 US cents/kWh) is less than half of the actual production cost. This situation translates into an annual loss of about FF 500 million per year for EDF (appr. US$ 93 million).
Prompted by the initiative and technical support of the French Environment Protection and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), the utility, in cooperation with the lamp importers and distributors, placed 100 000 Osram CFLs (15-watt electronic) in 80 participating retail stores. Other manufacturers were eligible, but could not fill the orders in a timely fashion. Before the program, only about 1 000 CFLs were sold annually on the island.
Ademe proposed that the utility send customers rebate coupons good for up to 10 CFLs at a price of FF 89 each (appr. US$ 16.5). The special price was about 1/3 of the prevailing retail price, 240 French francs. This was accompanied by intensive televison, radio, and newspaper promotion of the program. During May 1992, about 12 000 households redeemed their coupons, buying 8 CFLs/household before the shops ran out of lamps (in only one and one-half days)! An additional 32 000 households had standing orders for 258 000 CFLs that were filled after more lamps were imported to the island. One month after the initial round of rebates, a telephone survey of 400 households found that 80% of the CFLs had been installed.
The rebate mechanism allowed consumers to spread the payment for their CFLs over 6 sequential utility bills (18 months). The payment amount was set so that the value of energy savings for lamps used four hours/day or longer would be greater than the lamp payment. In addition, shop-owners recieved a rebate of FF 5 per CFL sold.
With 358 000 lamps and a participation rate of about 44 000 households (37% of the eligible population), and a penetration rate of about 8 CFLs/household, this is the largest and most effective CFL rebate campaign yet held anywere in the world (higher penetration has been achieved, but only when lamps were given away for free). The CFLs sold will save EDF 19 million French francs/year (appr. US$ 3.5 million) of otherwise lost revenue for a one-time cost of FF 2.5 million (appr. US$ 460 000) for the program. The total cost per kilowatt-hour saved is about one-eighth of EDF's cost of producing electricity on the island.
Given the success to date, EDF plans to launch a similar campaign for 300 000 CFLs on the nearby island of Martinique. (For an update on the Martinique program, see Best Again!, IAEEL 2/93)
Evan Mills
For more information, contact:
Marg Frager
French Environment Protection and Energy Management Agency, Ademe
Tel: +590 27 78 05
Fax: +590 26 87 15