MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government is considering a ban on all incandescent light bulbs from January 1, 2014, the economics minister said on Thursday.
"We propose banning incandescent light bulbs of over 75 watts from January 1, 2013, and all incandescent light bulbs from January 1, 2014," Elvira Nabiullina said at a news conference.
The government earlier said it could ban incandescent bulbs over 100 watts from January 1, 2011.
Presidential economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich said that the government did not plan to fix the timescales in law.
"As to the second and third stages - in 2013 and 2014 - these dates, although in the law, will not be rigidly fixed," he said at the news conference. "We expect that we will do it in this timeframe, but we would like to look at it in the coming months as the first stage starts to work."
"But I think these terms are realistic," Dvorkovich added.
Nabiullina said the cost of Russia's transition to energy efficient bulbs was estimated at 100 billion rubles ($3.3 billion).
The Russian government is seeking to raise energy efficiency in the country, which is one of the highest users of energy per unit of GDP in the world.
Dvorkovich said a new law on energy efficiency would require legal entities to install energy meters at their buildings and offices until January 1, 2011 and private individuals until January 1, 2012.
Very few buildings in Russia have meters for gas, or cold or hot water, which is usually pumped in from combined heat and power plants.
