Watt usage depends on what?

Well whats up buddys. Ive got a question, see here lets say one were to get a cfl ballast with room for four bulbs each 105 watt cfls for a total of 420 watts but then only use 3 bulbs. Would the ballast still use 420 watts or will just taking a bulb out cut it down to 315 watts?

my hunch would be that it would go down to 315, can anyone confirm this?

CFLS Have the ballast built in to the bulb, thats why they screw into standard light sockets, and require no extra external ballast.
Also double check your bulbs many first timers get confused because they list two different wattages on the box. look for the actual wattage (probably closer to 23w)

Hey thanks for the reply. I didnt mean ballast per se, I meant to say CFL "Light Bank" with room for four CFL bulbs. But if one were to just use three light bulbs it would only use enough energy to power the three bulbs and not be wasting any energy on that fourth light socket, right?

ps. Its four 105 watt CFLs each equivalent to 400 watts of incandescent. I think with four bulbs goin its over 20,000 lumen. A lot of people think that CFLs dont come in larger wattages... but they do