«I went to the Costco and Home Depot in Torrance (SoCal), and didn't see any of the SoCal Edison subsidized flourescent lights mentioned. »
You might want to go back and look again. I was at both types of stores today picking up some stuff for a project and they both had big bins of the FEIT ECOBulbs. Costco had 3-packs of he 100 Watt (1400 lumens) equivalent for $4.99 and Home Depot has the 60-75 Watt (1100 lumens) equvalents for 2.24 each. Costco also has some 2-packs of a smaller sized 60-Watt replacement.
For anyone who needs them, CostCo also had a 4-pack of 65-Watt equivalent flood lights for $20. Unfortunately, I can't remember the brand. I need some flood lights but only 2 so I passed on those.