CFLs to be provided in Asom at low rates

Guwahati, Apr 5 (UNI) The Assam State Electricity Board(ASEB) today announced their plans to provide compact fluorescent lamps(CFLs) to consumers at reasonable rates.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will formally inaugurate the 100 MW Karbi Lanpi project at Hatidubi in Karbi Anglong tomorrow.

Addressing a press conference here, ASEB spokesperson and Member Finance AK Sachan said that owing to the power crisis faced by the state, it has become exigent to cut down the power consumption to a level.

''Use of CFLs instead of bulbs by consumers could help in that direction,'' Mr Sachan said.

''The high retail rates of CFLs lure customers towards the cheap bulbs. Once, the CFLs are available at reasonable rates, the customers would opt for them,'' he pointed out.

The ASEB is taking up the matter with companies like Philips and Indo-Asian.

Awareness programmes regarding conservation and economic use of energy are also on the the anvil.

Due to scarcity in rainfall, the hydel power projects of the region are generating power much below the capacities. This has resulted in severe power crisis in the region. Depletion of the gas fields has also hit the production at the Namrup and Lakwa thermal plants.

Supply from the NEEPCO projects presently has also come down by more than 50 per cent.

Mr Sachan said a number of new power stations are coming up in the eastern region as well as in the Northeast.

''Efforts are being made to get the maximum allocation from these new plants,'' he added.

This is the third consecutive year that Asom is facing a severe power crisis due to failure of the rains. While it requires around 750 MW of power daily, the state is receiving just about 550-600 MW power in peak hours.

UNI