How much does it cost to change a light bulb? Cost efficiency, Boris Johnson style
Written by Mark Pack on 6th August 2008 – 10:00 amDuring the London Mayor elections, Boris Johnson and his campaign had to get the bulbs changed in five lamps in their office.
No surprise there really.
But you might be a little surprised at how much they paid.
Changing five lamps required someone to be paid for two hours of work, at £28.98 per hour. (That’s 24 minutes per lamp.)
Plus 10% administration fee.
Plus VAT.
Add in the cost of material and the total bill came to £88.81.
Nothing like a bit of value for money is there? (Copy of invoice here.)
P.S. I’m now off to become an electrician.
Posted in London Mayor, Opposition watch
6th August 2008 at 10:26 am
It probably cost £20 to issue the invoice and another £50 to process and pay it.
6th August 2008 at 10:28 am
Bye, bye, Mark. I hope you are more useful as an electrician than Head of the Innovations unit (-:
And you could start up Electricians’ Voice. Stories to include, Watchdog finds leading company over-charging by 3p for washing machine repair job
6th August 2008 at 10:55 am
To be fair, it’s not like they had much choice in the matter - the invoice is from the management company for their County Hall office, not from some random electrician. They probably werent’ allowed to change them themselves.
And if they were integrated into the celing or tube-lights, they are fiddly and take time to change.
6th August 2008 at 11:49 am
£80 ?
They will save that much in 6 months using energy efficient lightbulbs.
Why do I get the feeling this is just a “Bitch at Boris” rather than any intelligent political discussion ?
6th August 2008 at 12:21 pm
I’ve moderated a comment that appears to be from a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate passing themselves off as an unhappy Liberal Democrat. As ever, if a mistake has been made, apologies and just get in touch
6th August 2008 at 12:29 pm
£28 an hour for a spark is not bad value at all. Nothing to see here.
6th August 2008 at 4:05 pm
Poor old Boris; I suppose his Fag used to change the light bulbs for him at school…
7th August 2008 at 11:11 am
I think that the banned fagging ages ago, but we’ll have to ask David Rendell.