The Hindu Business Line : BESCOM plans relaunch of discounted lamp scheme

The experiment has also persuaded the Maharashtra State Electricity Board to plan a similar initiative for Nashik, and Tata Power and Reliance Energy to roll it out in Mumbai.

Bangalore May 20 Consumers in Bangalore are getting a second chance to switch to energy-efficient lights in their homes.

Buoyed by the good response to the experiment it ran in 2004, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), a Government utility, is once again offering customers compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) at discounted rates.

To popularise

The campaign is aimed at helping users slash electricity bills and reducing consumption in a city struggling every day to supply enough energy to meet the demand.

The experiment at popularising lamps, which produce the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb but using a fourth of the energy, has also persuaded the Maharashtra State Electricity Board to plan a similar initiative for Nashik, and Tata Power and Reliance Energy to roll it out in Mumbai.

Relaunch

"We relaunched the programme in Bangalore with further reduction in price four months back," said a BESCOM official.

"Earlier, we had restricted sale of CFLs to five per household; now there are no restrictions."

With the relaunch of the scheme, CFLs would be sold through stalls put up at BESCOM outlets, and not through retail outlets, said a supplier.

"Right now, we have stalls at three outlets in the city, where we sell at discounted rates."

Exclusive outlets

For instance, a 14 W Philips CFL with an MRP of Rs 130 is being sold at Rs 110 at these outlets; similarly, Osram offers its 15 W CFL with MRP of Rs 130 at Rs 102.

According to the official, BESCOM's plans to extend the offer to Kolar, Tumkur, Chitradurga and Davangere, however, have met with poor response.

The utility has sent a proposal to the State Government to make use of CFLs in Government offices compulsory.

Pilot programme

The pilot programme, covering Bangalore Urban District, was aimed at promoting compact CFLs as an energy-efficient lighting technology.

The target customers were 1.3 million domestic users.

Asian Electronics, Philips and Osram were selected to supply CFLs through approved retail outlets.

According to a BESCOM official, 4.31 lakh CFLs were sold between December 2004 and October 2005; of this, about 1.8 lakh units were sold under BELP.

Energy saving

"It is best to use CFLs in corridors, puja rooms and kitchens," said a domestic CFL end-user, whose electricity bills have shown savings of Rs 100 per month with 10 CFLs installed in the house.

Annual energy savings during the pilot period amounted to 37.52 million units from the total CFL sales or 25.7 MW reduction in the evening peak load.

The reduction in demand meant that the electricity company did not have to invest in creating new generating capacity.

If that is taken into account, the savings in monetary terms was Rs 102.78 crore, according to an independent study.

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