That deserves a rant.
We can't get CFL to last more than a few months, most less than that. Officially 240v here but I use lights a LOT (sometimes I'm close to nocturnal) and late at night the voltage here can measure 250v or slightly over.
CFLs SUCK. They take minutes to get to full brightness, the light output gets painfully dim after even a short period (6 weeks?) of installation, they attract bugs like nothing else, they are harsh on the eyes for reading, and the light output is a total scam based on the printed values on the packaging.
The CFL marked "equivalent to 100w" will not come close to the light output of a proper 100w pearl incandescent, absolute lies. That's number 1 reason I call them a scam.
I have tried many types of CFL and I have 3 identical light stands in my living area, currently one has CFL in it (mainly used for when we go out as did I mention the light SUCKS). I have tested the "100w equivalent" and they make the same quality light output as a 40w pearl incandescent when new, then less than a 40w pearl as the CFL ages over a few weeks.
And they won't drop 75% of the light portion of the bill, simply because they don't come close to the light output that they are supposed to you need to use larger or more CFL to light the room. And the biggest scam of all, they are sold as "cost effective" because after X years they will save enough power to justify the high purchase costs, but they never last more than weeks. So you never achieve the cost savings.
Environmentally they are a disaster; much higher purchase and disposal costs, heavy metals used in manufacturing, short life and a lot of toxins released into your air when they fail and the semis and or the caps fail they smoke up and stink up your living area. when I open them they are full of terrible solder joints, bulged caps, cooked PCB tracks, and inverter components that are very minimally rated and never designed to last more than a couple of months. They are nasty garbage made at the lowest possible cost for a captive market propped up by forced sales from an immoral and inneffective law.
It's a total scam, the commercial interests have lobbied immorally to make this a law, guaranteeing their sales figures for a substandard product that has never lived up to expectations. Household (domestic) electricity use is only about 5% of total nationwide electric use, and lighting is only a few percent of household electric use whether you believe it or not. So domestic lighting is a VERY small portion of the nations electric usage. Add in the environmental costs of CFL manufacture and disposal and the law inflated price and they are a definite negative. If you want to save the nation's energy then get people to take shorter showers, or wash your clothes in cold water.
People in 120v countries might get better life from their CFLs, or maybe if you live in a cold area they might last longer. But do some impartial side by side tests with incandescents and the light output just doesn't cut it.
I know in Australia we get a lot of dodgy Chinese imports that may not match the quality of proper tested certified CFLs etc, but nobody pays twice the price for brandname bulbs when the next shelf has 1/2 price bulbs. And definitely if you live where its hot, and 250v all night long, and use lights all night long, they just SUCK. People have been brainwashed into thinking CFLs are good but the reality HAS proved very different. The garbage CFLs we get here are gonna get to England and USA soon, mark my words.