Come January, you will have LED bulbs in your homes

CHENNAI, 10/07/2014: A view of a LED bulb at a house in Chennai on July 10, 2014. Photo: M_Karunakaran

Come January, 2016, all the existing bulbs in your homes will be replaced by LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. You can pay the cost of bulbs in one go or through your monthly electricity bills.

Replacement of fluorescent bulbs, tubes and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) will save 50 per cent of power consumption and reduce monthly electricity bill.

Following the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the LED bulb as a “Prakash Path” (“way to light”), Karnataka’s Energy Minister D K Shivakumar has decided to launch a scheme for LED bulb distribution under the domestic efficient lighting programme in the State in January next.

On Monday, Mr Shivakumar chaired a two-hour long meeting with manufacturers of LED bulbs and lights and decided to call tenders to procure LED bulbs at best prices. About 40 representatives of LED manufacturing firms, including such as Surya, Crompton, Wipro, attended the meet.

Representatives said LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times that of CFLs, and therefore provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term.

Power-saving mode:

• Total cost of project: Rs. 2,600 cr.
• Six crore LED bulbs to be distributed to households across Karnataka (Rs. 600 cr).
• Each house to be given maximum 10 bulbs.
• Escoms will supply bulbs.
• Cost of bulbs to be deducted from monthly electricity bill.
• Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL), a GoI enterprise, will implement the project.
• 12 lakh streetlights to be replaced (Rs. 2,000 cr.) in 220 urban local bodies.
• Cost of each bulb Rs. 90 tp Rs. 100
• Streetlights in Bengaluru 4.5 lakh.
• Guaratee for household bulbs ( 3 years) and for streetlights (7 years)

Ten LED bulbs of 9 volts each, costing in the range of Rs 900-100 a bulb, will be provided to all domestic consumers and the amount will be recovered (Rs. 10 each) from their monthly electricity bill.

The current open market retail price of a LED bulb is in the range of Rs. 350-400. A government seal will be embossed on LED bulbs for eliminating re-sale and will have a minimum warranty of three years.

Installing LED street lighting in rural and urban local bodies will also be commenced in January and the local bodies would have to enter an agreement with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) of the Union Ministry of Power to ensure maintenance and repair of lights and junction boxes.

In Bengaluru alone there are 4.5 lakh street lights consuming 70 MW of per night. The City’s street light bill is around Rs 14 crore a month.

EESL will implement the LED domestic and street lighting project which estimated to cost Rs 2,600 crore. The detailed project would be discussed in the Cabinet meeting and tenders would be called for procuring bulbs. “Tenders will create price war among firms,” the Minister said.

LED lighting is expected to save about 800-1000 MW power. (EOM)