The Andhra Pradesh Government is planning to take up public participation programmes to save over 1,500 crore units of electricity worth around Rs 4,751 crore by arresting wastage.
The Government has directed the power utilities in the State to chalk out an action plan to take up massive awareness programmes in both rural and urban areas.
The power demand in the State is growing at a brisk pace. Even in the Kharif month of October , the energy requirement touched an all-time high of 28.8 crore units , as against 27.7 crore units during March 2011.
As part of the energy conservation measures, the Government will be replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for 1.8 crore consumers at a nominal price of Rs 15, as against the market price of Rs 90 each. “One unit saved is equal to 1.2 units generated. It is estimated that a family can save about 1080 units worth Rs 5,073 a year by replacing conventional lamps with CFLs,” a State Government release said.