Not to be published/broadcast  Before 20th November,2008    

       After making pioneering efforts for earning resources through carbon trading in lieu of its environment protection endeavours, Himachal Pradesh has come up with another noble scheme for saving energy in domestic lighting system. The state government has initiated an ambitious scheme, 'Atal Bijli Bachat Yojana' that envisages saving electricity besides earning additional income through power trading and in the form of carbon credits.

The scheme has a provision of free distribution of 64 lac Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) to 16 lac domestic consumers of the state in replacement of conventional incandescent lamps by spending about Rs. 70-80 crore . Every consumer would be provided 4 CFLs, two 15 watt and two 20 watt free of cost as a replacement of two 60 watt and two 100 watt incandescent lamps at his premises in order to encourage use of environment friendly domestic lighting system amongst consumers. The life of CFL is about 6000 hrs as compared to incandescent lamps which lasts for only 1000 to 3000 hrs.  In case any CFL turns out to be defective within the period of one and half year of installation, it would be replaced free of cost.

Atal Bijli Bachat Yojana would contribute towards saving 270 million units of energy over a year’s period, which could be made available to other category of consumers without any additional generating capacity. Approximately  115 mw energy  would be saved for 6 hours on daily basis. Besides, maximum demand on the system would be reduced by 75 to 150 mw during peak hours, which can be made available to industrial units on which peak load drawl restrictions are imposed.

Reduction in energy bills of consumers by 25 to 30 percent depending upon the usage is another advantage of the scheme. Though the cost of CFL is 5 to 10 times higher than incandescent lamps but the consumers would be benefitted and compensated in long run by saving huge electricity bills. This would not only benefit the consumers but also fetch additional revenue of Rs. 99 crore per year to the state through sale of the energy thus saved  which would be to the tune of about 270 million units.

The scheme also qualifies for earning through Certified Emission Reductions (CER) under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for which Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board is making efforts. On acquiring approval of CDM Executive Board of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), HPSEB is entitled for estimated 1,88,496 (CERs), which can fetch revenue to the tune of Rs.20 crore.

Atal Bijli Bachat Yojana shall not only benefit the HPSEB by generating additional revenue but also the domestic consumer by reducing energy bills considerably, thereby, ensuring monetary benefits to both.