By JOSEPHINE NAVULA
The Consumer Council will officially launch its ‘SWITCH and SAVE’ campaign today.
It is an awareness initiative to encourage consumers to switch to energy-saver light bulbs in order to reduce their electricity bills, and contribute to sustainable consumption.
Chief Executive Officer Premila Kumar mentioned in a release that not only does this invoke consumers to exercise their consumer responsibility, it also is one of the many ways in which they can practically reduce their electricity bills and save money for other needs.
The campaign also involves the Council taking the ‘SWTICH and SAVE’ message on its community and school visits, mobile units and other consumer education initiatives. The Council has observed that many consumers in Fiji are still using normal energy-hungry light bulbs.
The Council is also lobbying the Government to ensure that tax incentives designed to encourage consumption of energy saver bulbs are passed on to consumers in the form of cheaper energy saver bulbs. Government has reduced duty on energy-saver bulbs, however retail prices continue to be high and are not attractive enough for consumers.
The ‘SWITCH and SAVE’ campaign is funded by Consumers International’s (CI) Green Action Fund on sustainable consumption.