The Hindu Business Line : Solar water heater users in Bengal to get rebates on electricity bills

A proposal to this effect, mooted by the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA), has received the in-principle nod from the State electricity regulator. "A notification on this is likely to be issued shortly by the State Government," Power Department sources said.

As per the proposal, domestic users of solar water heaters of capacity of 100 litres or more will get a rebate of 20 paise per unit (up to 200 units) on their monthly electricity bills raised by the two main utilities, the West Bengal State Electricity Board and the CESC Ltd, besides Durgapur Projects Ltd.

The rebate would be available for three years from the date of commissioning the heater. The utilities would be reimbursed the rebate amount by WBREDA, which has planned this move as part of its programme to provide an incentive to users of green power. West Bengal's apex agency for promoting non-conventional energy, WBREDA has a subsidy kitty of Rs 10 lakh for reimbursements under this scheme and would qualify a user only after an on-site inspection. WBREDA already has in place a one-time capital subsidy scheme for solar home lighting systems. This is the first proposal involving rebates by conventional power generators.

It was being estimated that if a consumer base of at least 1000 could be created through this incentive scheme, then about 2 MW of fossil-based power generation could be substituted with environment-friendly power sources.

Sources said the scheme comes at a time when there has been a spurt in the use of solar water heaters. In satellite townships such as Salt Lake City, 54 households chose solar water heaters over conventional geysers this year as against only 18 such installations in 2002-03. Many enquiries were being received for such heaters from future residents of another such new township at Rajarhat close to Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of the city.

Response within the city has been limited as much for the congested pattern of the housing units as for the state of the buildings, many of which were old and disputed properties.

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