As the number of LED bulbs sold in the country under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) touched the 5-crore mark, Karnataka stood in the second spot among the south Indian States with over eight lakh bulbs having been sold.
Within the State, over five lakh bulbs were sold in Mysuru, where the ‘Hosa Belaku’ scheme was launched, beating capital city Bengaluru.
Overall in India, Andhra Pradesh, with over 1.49 crore LED bulbs, stood unbeaten. LED bulbs are being sold for Rs. 10 in the State.
The other States with big sales as on Thursday were Maharashtra (79.4 lakh) and Rajasthan (69.77 lakh).
The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), which caters to eight districts, started distributing the bulbs this month. While the number of outlets at which consumers can buy the bulbs has increased, the power utility has also started selling the bulbs across 17 BangaloreOne centres.
“We have set up counters at Cubbon Park and Lalbagh as well. There is also a plan to start selling them through meter readers,” said a Bescom official. The target for Bescom is to distribute 2.96 crore LEDs, while the State’s target is 6 crore.
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL), which is distributing the LED bulbs, plans to sell close to 10 crore bulbs by March.
The DELP scheme is expected to save energy, avoid peak load, as well as reduce emission of carbon dioxide.
The DELP target is to replace all 77 crore incandescent bulbs in India with LEDs.
