From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Oct 5: It is time to say goodbye to the existing electricity bulbs in your homes with LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs from January 1, 2016.
The interesting part of the scheme being worked by Karnataka’s Energy Department is that the domestic users can pay the cost of replacing the existing bulbs in their homes with LED bulbs in one go or through the monthly electricity consumption bills.
Replacement of fluorescent bulbs (tubes and compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs) will save at least 50 per cent of power consumption and reduce monthly electricity bill, says a calculation worked out by the Energy Department.
The Union Power Ministry’s undertaking, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), will be implementing the LED domestic and street lighting project which estimated to cost Rs 2,600 crore.
In Bengaluru alone, there are approximately 4.5 lakh street lights consuming 70 MW of per night. The City’s street light bill is around Rs 14 crore a month.
Karnataka’s Energy Minister D K Shivakumar has decided to launch a scheme for LED bulb distribution under the domestic efficient lighting programme in the State in January next.
The minister chaired a two-hour long meeting with manufacturers of LED bulbs and lights to work out the details of the implementation of the project.
About 40 representatives of LED manufacturing firms attended the meet.
The representatives of LED manufacturing firms said LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times that of CFLs, and therefore provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term.
Under the scheme being worked out by the Energy Department, 10 LED bulbs of 9 volts each, costing in the range of Rs 90 to 100 a bulb, will be provided to all domestic consumers and the amount will be recovered (Rs. 10 each) from their monthly electricity bill.
The current open market retail price of a LED bulb is in the range of Rs. 350-400.
"We hope the scheme will prove a hit as it will be economical to the domestic consumers in the long run and will also help the State in substantially reducing the energy demand due to the likely reduced power consumption,’’ Shivakumar said.