Over 75 lakh lED bulbs have been distributed in Chhattisgarh under Central Government's 'Unnat Jeevan by Affordable lEDs and Appliances for All' (UJAlA) program, officials informed.

Under aegis of Central Government promising UJAlA Program is gearing up and distribution of affordable lED ,BUlB and TUBElIGHT by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl)jointly with EESl has resulted in annual energy savings of 98 crore kWh to the State. These annual savings are sufficient to light up over 1.8 lakh households for an entire year. Distribution of 75 lakh lED bulbs in Chhattisgarh has led to peak load reduction of 197 MW. The state has also benefitted from daily CO2 emission reduction of 7.9 lakh tonnes.

Energy Efficiency Services limited (EESl), under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India, is implementing this program. On this occasion, Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESl said, "We are overwhelmed by the participation of the consumers in the State of Chhattisgarh. "We are happy to witness that the consumers are concerned about the environmental impacts and are shifting to energy efficient appliances from the inefficient ones. EESl is committed to the vision of an energy efficient India and will always ensure that the consumers can avail high quality energy efficient appliances at affordable prices, he said.

The CSPDCl Managing Director, Ankit Anand stated that the company has immensely worked to successfully execute the project and to fulfill demand in remote and rural areas along with meeting demands of urban consumer.

This energy saving lED's and Appliance is enormously accepted by the consumers due to its viability to produce efficient light in low voltage in comparison to traditional and CFl BUlB, he said.With distribution of 75 lakh of lED a remarkable downfall of 197 mw unit of electricity notified during peak hour. The Program resulted in annual saving of 98 crore unit electricity which can be provided to 1.8 lakh consumers instead.

Under UJAlA scheme, consumers will be able to buy high quality 20 W lED tube lights and energy efficient fans at Rs 230 and Rs1,150 each respectively on an upfront basis. The consumers can also purchase energy efficient lED bulbs at Rs 65 each. Each consumer can save over Rs 2,500/- annually by adopting energy efficient appliances. The energy efficient fans distributed by EESl are of 50 Watts, which are 30 percent more efficient than the fans available in market.

The UJAlA scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on January 5, 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore inefficient bulbs with Energy Efficient lED Bulbs by March, 2019. Currently, over 24 crore lED bulbs, over 24 lakh lED tube lights and over 8.5 lakh energy efficient fans

have been distributed and 24 lakh lED street lights have already been replaced in the country. This is leading to annual energy savings of more than 3,184 crore kWh,

resulting in avoidance  over 6,418 MW of peak demand and helping in reduction of 2.5 crore tonnes of CO2 every year.