Government is understood to have so far ordered less than a quarter of Global House’s replacement lights from a second electrical company.Works and Engineering staff were this week instructed to rip-out the controversial LED fixtures and replace them with fluorescent tube lights.The replacement of the potentially dangerous lights came just four days after The Royal Gazette revealed they breached health and safety regulations, as well as building and electrical codes.But The Royal Gazette can now reveal that only about 300 of the 1,300 fluorescent lights needed for the building refit have been purchased from ESC Limited of Pembroke.Premier Paula Cox and Deputy Premier and Public Works Minister Derrick Burgess have repeatedly refused to say how much the new lights cost and whether taxpayers will foot the bill.But the retail price of each light is said to be about $4.50, so Government is understood to have handed over about $1,350 of a repair job which could cost a total of about $5,850.Government is understood to have called in new company ESC Limited after being unhappy with the work provided by Electrical Technology Management (ETM).Mr Burgess went against the advice of technical officers and gave the go-ahead for ETM to install the environmentally-friendly LED lamps about two years ago at a cost of about $100,000.But Government workers immediately started to raise health concerns about the ‘cave effect’ of the blue-tinted lights.Then on Monday The Royal Gazette published a report by the Electrical Section of the Ministry of Works and Engineering highlighting a series of errors about the LED installation.The damning report stated that no proper feasibility study was carried out, technical officers had raised concerns in advance about poor lighting levels, the lights installed were not certified with a recognised electrical testing laboratory, and an electrical permit for the lights was not applied for.Chris Siegal, import manager at Satco, said ESC had been “a good customer of ours” for several years and it was the only authorised distributor of Satco products in Bermuda. The New York manufacturer sent out a shipment of “a few thousand” lights to ESC in August.Mr Siegal said the Satco Hygrade lamps had a proven health and safety record and similar products had been used in other Government installations across the US.The company’s catalogue states that the 700 Series T8 fluorescent 32-watt lamps are energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, manufactured to meet the Restrictions of Hazardous Substances standards and Federal Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP). They are low mercury and lead-free lights and are designed to last an average of 20,000 hours.Glenn Davis, one of the owners of ESC, confirmed that the Ministry of Works and Engineering had ordered approximately 300 replacement fluorescent lights from them about three or four weeks ago.However, the issue of the potentially dangerous lights at Global House has triggered angry reactions from the people of Bermuda and political parties.Shadow Public Works Minister Mark Pettingill said it had been refreshing to see Government “taking action without excuses” over the lights at Global House.He said: “The bill will have to be paid by the taxpayer unless Government can sue on the contract they had with the supplier … we shall see.“Of course it could have been avoided if things had been done properly in the first instance, regrettably this a reflection of this Governments general course of conduct and mismanagement.“The measures that must be put in place are what an OBA Government will do, create a Contractor General post in order to ensure that Government contracts are properly entered into, this would be good Governance”.Mr Pettingill added that Bermuda “cannot afford the risk” of another term of a PLP Government.He said: “The Premier stated the other night at a rally ‘keep you eyes on the prize.’ That statement is a clear reflection of how the PLP Administration views being the Government .“It is the type of approach that must not be allowed to continue, becoming the Government can never be a ‘prize’ it is a fundamental obligation to the people.“The situation with the lights at Global House is a metaphor for the PLP Government: poor quality, potentially dangerous and keeping the people in the dark”.He added: “We must have real change”.Charlie Swan, spokesman on public works for the United Bermuda Party, said those responsible should be held accountable as making taxpayers pay would be “absolutely not fair”.He said: “I have to say that once again we have indications of impropriety with public funds.“It would seem that Bermudians have become immune to the scale. Let’s face it, $100,000 here, $500,000 there, and pretty soon you’re talking about a billion dollars that’s real money.“While it is pleasing to see a Government response to concerns raised by the affected staff in Global House. Better late than not at all there are unanswered questions”.Mr Swan, who is involved in installing LED lighting himself, said samples from potential suppliers should have been tested to gauge the opinions of staff.He added: “Yes, this could, and should, have been avoided.“We are seeing a few instances lately where, but for clear guidelines, clear lines of responsibility and accountability, the payment of large sums of taxpayer dollars could have been avoided.“In no other country in the world would an occurrence such as this go unchallenged. In no other country would no one go without punishment.“In Bermuda we see from the people we’ve put in charge silence”.The Ministry of Public Works did not respond to a series of questions inquiring about the cost and reasons for the replacement lights.