Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday launched the Energy Department’s ambitious programme, ‘Hosa Belaku’ (New Light), that aims to promote the use of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs among the public. The government aims to light up houses at a lesser cost and save on power expenditure.
“It’ll be beneficial to consumers in two ways: they can save on power bills and consume lesser energy. In all, 30 per cent of power consumed by CFL or other types of bulbs can be conserved by using LED bulbs,” he said. There are 1.53 crore domestic consumers in Karnataka who, by opting for LED bulbs, can help save 1,287 million units of power worth between Rs 450 crore and Rs 500 crore a year, he added.
Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said, “It’s a Central government initiative, which is being implemented on a far bigger scale in Karnataka than any other state.” He went on, “An estimated six crore bulbs will be supplied under the scheme. The Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a Central government enterprise, has come forward to supply the bulbs at an affordable rate of Rs 100 each against the market price of Rs 350-500.”
The EESL’s Director (Finance), A K Gupta, said the company aimed to supply 77 crore LED bulbs by March 2019. “It is necessary to switch over to the new type of bulbs as the existing incandescent or traditional bulbs emit poisonous arsenic through 80 per cent of heat generated from the same, against 20 per cent of light. In contrast, LED bulbs guarantee cent per cent light,” he said.
There are two ways of buying LED bulbs: pay Rs 100 for each bulb or pay just Rs 10 per bulb and the rest in 10 equated monthly instalments (EMIs) along with the bill.
Actors Puneeth Rajkumar and Ramya, who are ambassadors for the project, urged the people to use energy-efficient bulbs.
