Electricity was never free. It was a tradeoff between the cost of the bulb, vs the cost of the electricity used to power it. The cartel tried to set the effici

Electricity was never free. It was a tradeoff between the cost of the bulb, vs the cost of the electricity used to power it. The cartel tried to set the efficiency figure such that it wasn't worth it to run the bulb at lower efficiencies for longer life. As much as they are criticized they seemed to have calculated exactly the right figure: Bulbs today at still 1,000 hours. No one wants a lower efficiency bulb, and shorter lifetimes are too annoying. If you really want to know more, read the wikipedia article someone else linked, then read the sources it's based on.