A method of controlling an electronic ballast for a lighting circuit, the ballast including a bleeder, for use with dimmer circuits, by, in response to a mains supply being connected to the lighting circuit, determining whether a dimmer circuit is present in the lighting circuit; and in response to determining a dimmer circuit is not present, disconnecting the bleeder from the lighting circuit at least until the mains supply is disconnected. The method may be used during start, and the determination of whether a dimmer circuit is present is stored at least until the mains supply is disconnected. Determination of either a leading or trailing edge phase cut dimmer may be made by looking for deviation from the expected sine-wave voltage, either directly through temporal or voltage deviation, or indirectly by examining the second differential of the voltage with respect to time.