An electronic ballast having a boot strap capacitor (22) that becomes initially charged at a first rate and a high voltage storage capacitor (23) that becomes charged at a second, faster rate, wherein the boot strap capacitor (22), becoming initially fully charged initiates operation of a PWM driver (18) that in turn causes a power factor corrector and inverter (16) to energize corresponding gas discharge lamps (11). Upon activation of the PWM driver (18) and the corresponding activation of the power factor corrector and inverter (16), a voltage clamp (19) responds to these events by establishing a conductive path (20) between the high voltage storage capacitor (23) and the boot strap capacitor (22), such that continued operation of the PWM driver (18) is ensured. So configured, a relatively small valued capacitor can be utilized for the boot strap capacitor (22), thereby ensuring rapid activation of the lamps (11) without risking subsequent sporadic energization or other operational difficulties.