E.ON, the company that owns Powergen, and the world's number one lighting specialist, Philips, have embarked on a national campaign with Morrisons to raise awareness of low energy light bulbs to help UK households drive down their energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and also cut bills.

The bulbs, subsidised by E.ON and accredited by the Energy Savings Trust, last up to eight times longer and use 80% less electricity than standard light bulbs, and are now available from Morrisons for a new lower cost.

Thanks to E.ON's funding, the supermarket chain is now retailing selected Philips low energy Genie bulbs at 99p for two, in a bid to encourage consumers to think about the environment and to save cash. New stocks hit Morrisons supermarkets nationwide this month.

Phil Biddle, Head of Energy Efficiency at E.ON's retail arm Powergen, said: "Although research shows that sales of energy efficient light bulbs are still increasing year on year in the UK, they still only account for 13% of the overall market - a market that produces annual sales of over 240 million bulbs each year.

"As consumer attitudes continue to change and as consumers become more committed to reducing their energy consumption, it's vital that we make energy efficiency measures easily accessible.

"By subsidising the price of the bulbs, we are hoping this campaign will encourage consumers to change their ordinary light bulbs to energy efficient alternatives.

With each house averaging 24 light bulbs, this could save a typical house up to £144 a year. When scaled up across the UK's 26 million households that could save the country over £3.7 billion a year."

Peter Maskell, Chairman and Managing Director of Philips Electronics UK added: "We are delighted to be joining with E.ON and Morrisons to make low energy lighting affordable for the majority of the population. The environmental and reduced energy benefits of these bulbs has been evident for some time and this initiative now makes them affordable for everyone.

"Lighting is responsible for 19% of the world's electricity consumption and at these prices every consumer can make a contribution to reducing the resultant environmental impact".

The low cost, low energy bubs, which emit a warm, natural colour, are now available in most of Morrisons stores throughout the UK.

Says Nick Trestrail, Senior Buyer at Morrisons: "We've introduced this exclusive deal to encourage more customers to choose low energy light bulbs, making them so accessible they can easily be picked up as part of a weekly shop."