Cause: New energy efficiency requirements for power companies
Effect 1:
Consumers went crazy in October when they learned what their power company, Akron-based FirstEnergy, planned to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs. The company proposed automatically mailing the bulbs to every customer, then tacking a surcharge that well exceeded the retail price of the bulbs onto electric bills.
Effect 2:
Duke and AEP chose a different route for their light bulb programs, working with local retail stores to accept discount vouchers that consumers can request or decline. So far, hundreds of thousands of bulbs have been sold through Duke's program and sales through AEP's program have topped 1 million bulbs.
The takeaway:
"One of the big overarching things that we saw is that consumers don't want things forced down their throats, and that they want to have choice when it comes to how they're going to be more energy efficient," [Anthony Rodriguez, a spokesman of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel] said. "We know electric companies are being asked to become more energy efficient, but there are a variety of ways to make this happen and a compact fluorescent light bulb is only one way to help consumers save money on their energy bills."
