You finally decided to get rid of those flickering fluorescent tubes. You ask your supplier for LED T8 Lamps, they mention three options at you. Type A, Type B, Type C, and suddenly a simple lighting upgrade feels like a graduate course in electrical engineering. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Building owners from Mississauga to Barrie are making this call every week, and most end up choosing the wrong type because nobody explained it clearly.
Let’s fix that right now.
Before comparing cost and performance, you need to understand what sets these three apart, because it’s not just about the bulb itself.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Let’s use a mid-size commercial building in Brampton, say, 200 fixtures currently running T8 fluorescents. With Type A, you’re looking at roughly $8–$12 per lamp (sometimes less on bulk orders). No labour for rewiring. Sounds like a win.
But your existing ballast is still running 24/7, quietly consuming 4–8 watts per fixture on top of the lamp’s draw. Ballasts also fail. When yours goes down, and at 10–15 years old, many Ontario building ballasts are already overdue, you’re back to dark fixtures and emergency service calls. That $2,500–$4,000 ballast replacement bill will sting.
With Type B, the lamp itself costs $10–$16, and you’re adding an electrician’s time for the bypass, generally $15–$25 per fixture when done in a batch project. So your 200-fixture building might see $5,000–$8,000 in labour on top of lamp costs. That’s a real number, and it’s the reason people hesitate.
But here’s what changes: with no ballast parasitic draw and no ballast replacement risk, buildings routinely cut their lighting energy by 50–60% compared to fluorescents. At Ontario’s current hydro rates, commercial customers on medium-density pricing are seeing blended rates in the $0.12–$0.16/kWh range in 2026, that 200-fixture building could save $3,500–$6,000 per year in electricity alone. The payback on that extra labour investment? Often under 3 years. After that, the savings are entirely yours.
Type C at scale can push efficiency slightly higher and adds serious dimming capability, but you’re looking at $25–$45 per lamp plus driver costs and a more involved installation. For a standard office or retail space, the added performance rarely justifies the price gap over Type B.
The concern about Type B is legitimate: you have to call an electrician, schedule the work around your tenants or operations, and spend real money upfront before you see a single dollar of savings.
For a property owner managing a multi-tenant building in Markham or a retail plaza in Scarborough, coordinating that work without disrupting business hours is a genuine headache. Some tenants resist it. Some buildings have older wiring that complicates the bypass. And if you’ve been burned by a renovation project that ran over budget before, adding any scope to a “simple lamp swap” feels risky.
These concerns are valid. They’re also solvable, but they do require choosing a lighting contractor like Faraday, who’s done this kind of volume work before, not a local electrician doing you a favour.
Before a proper Type B retrofit: fluorescent fixtures humming at variable brightness, ballasts nearing end of life, hydro bills that climb every time Ontario’s Global Adjustment ticks upward, and a growing maintenance list as fixtures fail one by one.
After: flat, consistent light output rated for 50,000+ hours. No ballast to replace. Fixtures that get serviced individually instead of requiring emergency panel visits. A hydro bill that drops noticeably by the second month, often $300–$600 per month for a mid-size commercial building. And for those chasing ESA compliance or building certifications, a fully documented retrofit that satisfies Ontario’s electrical inspection requirements cleanly.
The operational simplicity alone is worth something. One well-managed lighting project, done once, properly.
Ontario’s electricity pricing environment has shifted. The province’s Industrial Conservation Initiative adjustments and continued Global Adjustment pressures mean that commercial hydro costs have climbed meaningfully over the past two years. Buildings that were borderline on payback calculations in 2023 are now clearly in positive ROI territory.
At the same time, Type B LED T8 technology has matured significantly. The early-generation direct-wire LEDs had issues with compatibility and colour consistency. Today’s products from established manufacturers are stable, well-warranted (most carry 5-year warranties), and priced competitively enough that the economics are hard to argue with.
There are also Government rebate programs still available through local utilities and the Save on Energy framework that can offset $1–$3 per lamp on qualifying projects. Those programs aren’t guaranteed to exist indefinitely, and applications require pre-approval before installation begins. Waiting another year likely means leaving money on the table.
Type B isn’t the right call for everyone. If you’re managing a property you plan to sell within 12 months, the upfront cost may not be worth it, a Type A swap gets the lights on without capital outlay, and the new owner can make their own retrofit decisions.
If your building is a small residential property in Muskoka with four or five fixtures total, the electrician mobilization cost alone changes the math significantly. Type A or a simple fixture replacement may make more sense at that scale.
And if you’re in a heritage building in downtown Toronto where the electrical infrastructure is genuinely complex and unpredictable, a phased approach. Type A first to confirm fixture compatibility, followed by a planned Type B retrofit, can reduce the risk of surprises.
If you own or manage a commercial or multi-unit residential building in Ontario with 30 or more fluorescent T8 fixtures. A professional lighting audit will tell you exactly what a Type B retrofit would cost and what it would save, with real numbers specific to your building and your hydro rate.
Most audits take under an hour and cost nothing. The savings projections alone are worth having on paper before you make any decision. Reach out to Faraday Lighting today for a free assessment and see what the numbers look like for your property before the next utility bill lands.
Many owners worry about compliance after bypassing ballasts. When done by a licensed electrician and inspected to ESA standards, Type B retrofits are fully compliant and typically do not impact insurance, but undocumented work can.
Lighting quality (flicker, brightness consistency, color) directly affects workspace comfort. Buildings that upgrade often see fewer lighting complaints and improved tenant retention, especially in offices and retail.
Yes, many projects are staged after hours or by zone. This is a common strategy in multi-tenant buildings to avoid downtime while still moving toward full energy savings.
Even with LED tubes installed, ballasts can still fail, causing outages and service calls. This ongoing maintenance risk is often underestimated in “quick swap” decisions.
Emergency circuits may require separate verification or rewiring depending on the setup. A proper audit ensures emergency fixtures remain code-compliant and functional.
In many cases, upgrades can be treated as capital improvements with depreciation benefits, improving ROI beyond just utility savings (best confirmed with an accountant).
Older buildings may have wiring inconsistencies. A pre-install audit identifies risks like shared neutrals or degraded insulation before any retrofit begins.
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