Lighting industry protests LED red tape

LED regulations currently being proposed by the federal government will worsen Australia’s cost of living crisis, according to peak lighting industry body Lighting Council Australia.

The proposed regulations include minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and labelling requirements for all light bulbs, including the most efficient on the market — LEDs.

Lighting Council Australia is calling on Energy Minister Chris Bowen to urgently intervene and put a stop to the proposed changes, which it said could cause the price of light bulbs to rise by 35% and add $30–40 million in costs to the new-build market per year.

“There is no need to add red tape to LED light bulbs; all this will do is place further financial pressure on businesses that will be passed on to consumers,” said Lighting Council Australia CEO Malcolm Richards.

“Minimum energy performance standards labelling works well for appliances such as fridges and washing machines, but there are over 150,000 different types of LED lights on the market. The scheme is completely impractical,” Richards said.

“LEDs are already awash in the market and vastly superior in energy efficiency compared to alternatives such as Halogen or CFL, so this scheme will not achieve anything.

“Most of the cost–benefit analysis is also redundant as it’s over a 5-year period and therefore irrelevant due to the massive uptake in LEDs during this period,” he added.

Richards said the added costs associated with this regulation would also stifle market innovation. “Suppliers currently voluntarily improve the efficiency of their products every 12 months. Under increased costs, innovation will stall and consumers will miss out on at least $10 million in electricity bill savings over the first five years of regulation,” he said.

“We urge Minister Bowen to intervene and remove LEDs from MEPS and the Department to go back to the drawing board and use current data to devise a more accurate cost–benefit analysis.”

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