The State government will appoint a third party inspection agency for monitoring and assessing the actual energy savings realised through demand side management based efficient lighting system (DELP) scheme.
Energy Secretary Ajay Jain has cleared the file pertaining to the third party inspections, after reviewing the progress of the distribution of LED bulbs in four districts – Guntur, Anantapur, Srikakulam and West Godavari. The third party audit is expected to help the government and power utilities in arriving at a realistic picture on the percentage of energy savings and ascertaining whether the huge quantum of the LED bulbs being distributed to households on subsidy are in good working condition and their usage pattern. The development comes in the light of the drive launched by the government to replace the power consuming incandescent bulbs with LED ones, with the assistance provided by the Centre-run Energy Efficiency Services Limited.
The EESL has agreed to bear the entire expenditure arising out of deploying the third party audit involving experts from reputed agencies. Energy audit would be taken up once a year for the next five years, the tenure of energy savings agreement between the EESL and the power utilities. Power utilities which set March third week deadline for distribution of LED bulbs are anticipating energy savings to the tune of 350 million units in the four districts in a year and the amount saved thus would be shared between the sponsoring agency EESL and the power utilities.
