TIL about this tax. “the levy, which is an excise tax, aims to encourage the use of more energy-efficient lighting, like LED bulbs, and reduce electricity demand.”
And so say all of us.
But who is buying all these incandescent bulbs? Why is it worth government’s time?
They actually expect to see money coming in from an increase on this levy.
People doing stuff where LED lights wont work.
I heard of people using it for biltong drying boxes I think. May speak under correction. But is rather the exception than the norm.
I bought a bunch of extra’s for the light in my braai… 
I heard that Australia had banned the sales of these…
Given that they are the worlds biggest coal exporter this appears ludicrous.
SA has also banned them …
Tell us more…
https://archive.ph/dbeWz
I’ve seen a graph as well and SA is also up there…
The other day I went from shop to shop trying to find one which I can use to calibrate smart plugs. Eventually I gave up and butchered one from a old biltong dryer.
OK… one application is bulbs for the inside of ovens and other appliances. Though the last fridge and the last freezer that I bought came with LED already fitted.
I also found a local web site selling 50W halogen downlights. At R30 a pop. If that’s with the R20 (pre-budget) levy built in, then those things are hell of cheap to buy but not to run.
We also use them to add supplemental heat to snake cages, where heating pads are sometimes not enough for large cages. Our cages usually have underfloor heat pads, infra red reptile lights, incandescent lights and also LED lights. Different usage patterns for all these, based on the season and temperatures.
Technically dont need them for braai.
I replaced the one in my braai with a LED bulb. The trick is, to find a LED bulb which is housed in glass instead of plastic. I did, and it works great in the braai, with even more light in there in fact.
Not sure if the same trick will work for an oven that is enclosed…
There’s actually a lot of more specialist applications which still require incandescent bulbs, as mentioned snake and reptile heating for one. There’s a lot in the medical and entertainment industries as well.
I was on holiday in the UK last year. Whilst in Milton Keynes we went to see a performance by the jazz guitarist Martin Taylor. The venue had posters up for the forthcoming shows. I recall that for one of the shows, the main feature was not actually who was playing but that it would be lit with “edison” light bulbs (they used the E-word). So presumably this sort of retro ambience is attractive to some folks.
The night we were there the theatre was running LED lighting. We went to three live shows in total, and all had LEDs for lighting the stage.
As somebody who performs on stage very occasionally, I can tell you that one advantage for the performer is that LED lighting does not heat up the stage as much.
Though LED lighting is slowly taking over that game, there are instances where LED can not replace good old incandescent yet. Especially in theater and lighting for TV where colour temperature is very important.
Then of course there is the work horses of the industry which simply keeps going and going and going, I know of many companies still using Martin Mac Viper, Robe Pointe’s etc.
The perfect light source I learned is a ‘black body’
You heat this up and it produces an even spectrum of light…
Then there was Stanley Kubrick who filmed the gala dinner scene with only candle light in Barry Lyndon.
Apparently he used some huge lenses that were made for the space program. Quite impressive!
