Question about CFL wattage

[Groundtop]

On CFL lights that are advertised I noticed that I see a lot of 100w lights that are actually 23w. Whenever someone talks about their light usage, they always say they used 400w or 500w. Are they talking about the actual wattage of the light or the replacement wattage? Also, does this go for other lights like HPS, LED?

 

[TurboBucket]

Most manufacturers of alternative light sources place the incandescent equivalent on the packaging, the 100w number. Typically "wall Watts" are what you want to reference, the 23w number. LEDs are labeled worse the important thing to remember is it's about how much power they use not how much they replace. My 3x1500w LEDs only use 800watts at the wall not 4500.