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bulbs by giving away 5,5 million of the new bulbs.
Although tenders for the new bulbs are still being evaluated, Zesa reckons that the giveaway, or rather the free swop of old filament bulbs, will cost the power utility around US$12 million.
But the switch will free up 200 megawatts, reducing demand by that much each night, and a power station to produce that sort of power would cost US$60 million at a minimum, so in effect Zesa is buying a zero-maintenance 200MW power station for US$12 million, a bargain.

An extra benefit, that Zimbabwe as a nation will need later on, is that this new power source will emit no greenhouse gases and cause no environmental problems.
It is this needed cutback in greenhouse gases that has driven decisions in many countries to switch to modern bulbs.
Everyone agrees that every consumer benefits from switching to energy-saving bulbs. They consume roughly a fifth of the energy that a similar output tungsten bulb uses, so cutting monthly bills, and they last around eight times as long although they cost only four or five times as much.

The energy saving comes from a better technology, that converts most of the energy input into light, rather than converting most to heat.
The problem over switching for most Zimbabweans has been the initial cost.
Even a modest house needs about 10 bulbs, and those can cost around US$40 at present retail prices.

Once those new bulbs are in place and producing their savings then the occasional replacement is easily affordable.
The Zesa scheme solves that problem by making the switch over free.
But, for the scheme to be effective, Zesa needs to have the Government ban the import and sale of filament bulbs.

It would be totally useless if all households were switched over and then switched back because the old-fashioned bulbs were readily available.
Zimbabwe does not make bulbs, so there is no problem and little notice needed to ban filament bulbs.
Other countries have been banning the sale of these obsolete bulbs for a while now, and had to give plenty of notice for their own factories to switch over production.

Unfortunately some factory owners stayed in production and just dumped the old bulbs at very low prices in countries like Zimbabwe. We do not need that.
We suspect that some of the ridiculous safety claims of the new bulbs have also been generated by owners of factories about to go out of business, as well as the dislike of many to make changes.
Fluorescent bulbs are safe. The long tubes lighting in every office, every street and every factory for decades use an almost identical technology.

The modern bulb makers also offer variations in the colour of light emitted, so it is quite easy to buy bulbs that give out a softer and yellower light than the office tubes.
At the same time Zimbabwean retailers need to establish proper supply chains for the new bulbs and start thinking about how to get volume discounts and so price them properly.
We have seen some much cheaper energy-saving bulbs on sale, and while some were of low quality there was a batch of Chinese bulbs that gave about twice the life of a filament bulb at almost the same price.

Those Zimbabweans who have switched in the last few years have sometimes found it hard to buy replacements in even large supermarkets, and have been irritated by the lack of choice in output.
They suspect that for far too many supermarket owners these bulbs are an afterthought, rather than an essential item.

The other switchover that Zesa are implementing is the change to pre-paid meters for all domestic users.
And this switch will take into account that some people owe Zesa money on their present meters. Zesa plans to switch these defaulters over anyway and then claim what they are owed on an easy payment plan later.

Since so many householders will be saving significant sums each month with their new bulbs they will be able to use those savings to retire old debt; so there should be no hardship.
We have been urging Zesa to make this switch for so long that we are delighted that they are now doing so, and doing so in a way that stops defaulters increasing their debt while Zesa waits for

them to clear it before granting the boon of a pre-paid meter.
We hope that the “energy cards” will be sold in far more places than just Zesa offices, but we are so impressed by Zesa taking the bull by the horns over these meters and switching every

Zimbabwean to new lighting technologies that we are certain for a change that they will also come up with convenient ways for everyone to buy energy.
Zesa seems to have switched its corporate culture from one of reacting to events to one of controlling events. Now of course they need to apply that new culture to upgrading existing power stations and building new ones.