Genesis Energy is renewing its push to ban incandescent light bulbs in New Zealand, arguing the move could reduce household power bills and improve energy efficiency.

The proposal follows unsuccessful attempts to phase out the bulbs in 2008 and again in 2016, when Consumer NZ also called for a ban.

Chief revenue officer Stephen England-Hall said replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs was one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways for households to cut electricity use.

“One dollar of electricity buys you 250 hours of LED lighting, but it also will buy you 25 hours of incandescent bulb lighting, so it’s 10 times better to have LED bulbs than incandescent bulbs,” he said.

“The average house has roughly 15 light bulbs in it, so if you switch from one to the other, you’ll save yourself $300 a year in electricity costs.”

England-Hall said replacing inefficient lighting required relatively little investment while delivering immediate savings.

“It doesn’t require radical reinvention of electricity markets. It just means getting rid of inefficient technology and using more efficient technology, and everybody saves money.”

He also encouraged households to review their electricity plans and adopt simple energy-saving habits.

“More than 70 per cent of the people we surveyed would love to reduce their energy spend, and around half say they are confident they can make changes themselves,” he said.

“What they need is support to find the right plan, switch out the simple stuff, and change behaviour.”

He added the more power being produced in the network, the lower the average cost could be.

“The more of the economy we electrify, ironically, the unit costs get socialised and so you end up with a much more efficient energy system that’s much more secure, that over time lowers the energy costs for everybody.

“I think that’s a good thing.”

• Further reading: Computer Help NZ launches computer recycling initiative in Canterbury.