New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): Large consumers of BSES, one of Delhi's two electricity distribution companies (discoms), saved 17, 000 KW of power over a recent six-week period through a demand side management (DSM) project, the discom said on Thursday.

"As part of the pilot project, 500 largest consumers of BSES Yamuna Private Ltd (BYPL) in east and central Delhi having a load of over 500 KW each were enrolled in this manual Demand Response Project and requested to voluntarily reduce their electricity load as and when required, especially during peak hours," a BSES release said here.

"For the same, they were given a financial incentive of Re 1 per unit," it said.

"Based on the success of the initiative that saved 17 MW power, the Demand Response (DR) program will be gradually rolled-out across BSES area of east, central, south and west Delhi," it added.

BSES implemented this project in association with international consulting firm ICF and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation.

"We are initially targeting power savings of around 2 to 5 per cent of the peak demand. Through this initiative, we can target power savings between 30 to 75 MW," a BSES spokesperson said.

A key component of DSM, Demand Response is a voluntary reduction of electricity demand by a consumer over a given time period. For this, consumers are given financial benefits for reducing demand, or levied penalties for increasing consumption, during the notified period of the event.