In a novel way the Karnataka Government has embarked on “Hosabelaku” (new light), a project to save energy. launching the project in Mysuru on Friday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the project would take the ‘lED lighting route’ for achieving energy efficiency and saving power consumption by over 40 per cent.
In all 1.53 crore consumers in the State will be provided with lED bulbs to replace the traditional bulbs. The consumer will also save more than `500 to `600 per year in their power bills. These lED bulbs save energy consumption by 30 to 40 per cent. The project is to replace traditional bulbs with lED bulbs across the State.
The Chief Minister said once all the consumer start using the lED bulbs, the State can save energy worth about Rs 500 crore yearly. Siddaramaiah said the State, which depended mainly on hydel power, was facing severe shortage as water levels in reservoirs were very low due to failure of rain. Despite shortage in generation, the Government had been trying to supply power to irrigation pump sets, industries and households with seven hours, three hours in the night and four hours in the morning in three phases and 12 hours of single phase, besides there was no load shedding in Bengaluru and Mysuru.
Siddaramaiah alleged that previous BJP Government had failed totally to increase power generation in the State and there were huge arrears for purchase of power from other States and sources. The Government was also looking forward to generate the solar energy in large scale.
Priority was given not only to save energy consumption but also to increase the generation of power to meet the demands of agriculture sector, for industrial development and to supply quality power to consumers in the State, he added.
He said the Government had been spending nearly `7000 crore by way of subsidy for supply of power. The Chief Minister expressed his confidence that the State becomes self-sufficient in power sector.
State Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, however, clarified that his Department had no plans to make lED lights mandatory for consumers. It will, however, persuade them to choose lED lighting to save power and minimise their bills. He said according to an estimate the State required 6.5 crore lED bulbs and the Energy Efficiency Service limited has already called a tender for the manufacturers and 50 lakh lED bulbs (9 watt) each costing around `100 are already in stock.
In this first ever effort, the Energy Efficiency Services limited, an entity of the Union Government, will procure the bulbs through a tender and give them to the Department for distribution through various ESCOMs.
The linemen or Meter Readers would replace these bulbs in the households. Each household will get a maximum of 10 unbreakable bulbs in the first phase and the amount would be recovered in 10 instalments through monthly bill.