The government will distribute LED bulbs to households in rural areas of Krishna district with the support of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) in a move aimed at promoting energy efficiency in every household and to benefit every family.
The EESL will invest Rs 450 crore to distribute four high quality LED bulbs to each family for replacement of conventional bulbs. The EESL will inaugurate the ‘Gram Ujala’ scheme in five districts—Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Vadnagar in Gujarat, Nagpur in Maharastra and Arrah in Bihar, apart from Krishna.
In Krishna district, EESL will launch the programme by distributing around 8.84 lakh LED bulbs. The energy department has requested the panchayat raj and rural development department to identify one or two mandal headquarters for launching the programme.
“LED is a highly energy efficient lighting technology. Residential LEDs use at least 75% less energy,” state energy secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said. Widespread use of LED lighting has the highest impact on energy savings. Further, LEDs emit less heat compared to incandescent bulbs and CFLs, which release 90% and 80% of their energy as heat respectively.
EESL will distribute nine-watt LED bulbs at a subsidised price. “It is proposed to provide four high quality LED bulbs to each rural household in the selected five districts, including Krishna district in AP at a nominal price of Rs 10 each,” said executive vice-chairman of EESL Saurabh Kumar in a letter to the energy department.