Major shift for South Africa's biggest retailer.

The Shoprite Group has added 1 million LED lightbulbs to its ongoing efforts to reduce its electricity consumption and shift towards better power efficiency in the face of load shedding.

The group said that it has been able to reduce its electricity consumption by 12% by installing the bulbs, on top of the savings it has made through its massive solar rollout and other adjustments in its business model.

Notably, the energy savings from the LEDs has reduced the group's electricity costs by R346 million in the latest financial year. However, this is still far from covering the R560 million diesel bill it has incurred (across only 26 weeks) to try and combat load shedding.

However, it has covered the cost of installing the bulbs this year - amounting to R49 million - and the savings have nearly covered the cost of the entire rollout, which started in 2017 (R371 million).

"By taking a proactive stance in energy planning, the Shoprite Group has bolstered its stores' energy resilience to withstand both anticipated and unforeseen disruptions in energy supply and electricity tariffs," the group said.

The LED rollout forms part of the group's strategy to improve energy efficiency as much as possible and use renewable energy across its operations, including distribution centres, trucks and trailers.

In addition to the LED installations, the retailer has more than doubled its installed solar photovoltaic (PV) system capacity over the past two years - with the group having enough solar panels to cover 24 soccer fields.

Installing solar PV on trailers is also a priority for the retailer as it enables drivers to switch off truck ignitions at delivery locations, reducing exhaust pollution while keeping the cold chain intact.  In 2022, it expanded the number of trailers in its fleet equipped with solar PV to 1,041.

Shoprite said it aims to power 25% of its operations with renewable energy within the next five years as part of its commitment to reach science-based emission targets by 2050.

New rules for lightbulbs

Shoprite's use of LED lamps is notable for more than its operation cost savings: the rollout comes as the government clamps down on other types of lightbulbs in the country.

The Department of Trade and Industry and Competition (DTIC) recently gazetted new compulsory standards for standard lighting in South Africa, which will effectively ban all lightbulbs except for energy-efficient LEDs.

Among the various technical aspects of the regulations, the main change is that all GSLs in the country will have to have a minimum luminous efficiency rate of 90 lumens per watt (lm/W) in the first phase of the regulations. This then becomes a minimum of 105 lm/W in the second phase.

Lumens per watt (lm/W) refers to the energy efficiency of lighting, i.e. how much visible light you get for a given amount of electricity.

On average, a typical incandescent bulb in South Africa produces around 12 lumens per watt, compared to 55 lumens for energy-saving compact fluorescents (CFL) and 80 for LED bulbs.

With the advent of LED technology in lighting, LEDs are currently the only bulb types that have any hope of reaching the 90lm/W target - incandescents and CFLs don't come close.

However, even LEDs are still generally lagging on the future target of 105 lm/W, with only a three-year gap available for this to be reached. LEDs are typically 50% more energy efficient than fluorescent lamps.

All businesses and households in South Africa will eventually have to follow in Shoprite's footsteps and adopt more energy-efficient lighting.

The new standards are already in effect, and lamp producers will have 12 months to comply with the 90lm/W target and then another 24 months to comply with the 105lm/W target.