So what, you're probably thinking. I have many electronic power supplies running everything from televisions to computers to amateur radio equipment and all have this same peak cycle current draw.

Quite true. I can't find a definitive number in a quick Internet check, but the figures thrown around say that 15-20 percent of electrical power consumption in the US results from lighting and the great majority of this represents incandescent lamps.

If we switch to CFL lamps, the total lighting-related power consumption will drop, a good thing generally. However, having a significant proportion of the total electrical power load represented by AC waveform peak devices such as the Sylvania CFL I looked at is definitely not a good thing. It increases the harmonics in the power line and also presents a highly non-linear load to the power utilities. These things complicate both electrical generation and the distribution network, including power transformers. The European Union, in fact, has adopted a standard, EN61000-3-2, placing limits on the relative amplitude of the current pulse harmonics, with the thought of avoiding or at least reducing problems caused to the electrical power grid by peak-charging loads such as the CFL.

This is sometimes said to be a "power factor" issue. Normally the power factor relates to the phase between the voltage and current waveforms. Power factor is the cosine of the phase difference between the voltage and current, sometimes expressed as a percentage and sometimes as a ratio over the range -1 to +1. A resistive load has a power factor of 1.0, as the voltage and current are in phase. Motors are inductive and have a power factor that varies with motor size and construction, but is usually in the 0.8 to 0.9 range. Overall, a power utility's load is normally inductive due to customer's motor loads, and the power factor can be brought closer to 1.00 with capacitors, if necessary. You will sometimes see a capacitor package installed on pole tops by some utilities for power factor correction. (At the risk of being inaccurate due to brevity, the power generation and distribution network must be sized for apparent power, i.e., VARs or the product of voltage times current, called volt-amperes. The actual load that residential and small business customers pay for, however, is voltage times current times power factor or watts. Hence, it's most efficient for the utility if power factor = 1.00. Large scale industrial and commercial users, however, often are billed for both VARs and kwh.)

The issue with a CFL is not so much the power factor, as it is that the entire power is drawn over a relatively small segment of the 60 Hz waveform. This spike-type current waveform, if analyzed in a Fourier series, or looked at with a spectrum analyzer, will show that it causes harmonics in the power system. It also causes a problem similar to the power factor issue, in that the power network must be designed for the instantaneous voltage/current peaks.