Good News: Govt mulls selling LED bulbs at Rs 44 only

New Delhi, Sep 13: Government is looking to provide LED bulbs at Rs 44, which is much lower than current retail price of around Rs 300, under its DELP scheme to discourage use of inefficient incandescent bulbs.

"The government is looking to bring down the price of LED bulb to Rs 44 per unit under bulk purchases through competitive bidding," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a recent interactive session of Assocham.

Under its Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP), the government procures LED bulbs through competitive bidding and provides those to consumers at much competitive rates.

At present, these bulbs are sold for Rs 275-300 per unit in the market. In the latest round of bidding, a price of Rs 74 per unit was discovered, which is way below the initial target of Rs 99, the minister added.

Under the government scheme, consumers also have the option of paying for the LEDs in equated monthly instalments.

According to official estimates, use of LEDs in domestic and public lighting could result in 50-90 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

If all the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in India for domestic (household) lighting are converted to LEDs, 25 billion KWh (units) of energy can be saved every year. At present, over 1.35 crore LEDs have been distributed so far.

The government has set up a target of distributing 70 crore bulbs procured through bulk orders in the next two years and nine months.

Prices of LED bulbs have reduced by more than 75 per cent in the last 6-8 months due to the various programmes of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a public sector entity under the Ministry of Power.

The national programme is expected to stimulate the market further and push retail prices below Rs 150. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the LED-based home and street lighting programme on January 5 this year, describing the LED bulb as "prakash path" (way to light).

The DELP initiative aims to replace domestic incandescent and CFL bulbs with LED lights. It will help saving 105 billion KWh (units) energy, thus reducing consumer bills by Rs 40,000 crore.

Similarly, the Street Light National Programme (SLNP) targets to replace 3.5 crore street lights, manifesting in 9,000 million KWh energy savings and 1,500 MW reduction of installed street light load.

The urban local bodies (ULBs) will be able to save Rs 5,500 crore through this initiative.

The street light programme has already helped in reducing 64,190 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission, while the domestic light programme has achieved a reduction of 4.9 lakh tonnes of carbon emission.

Lighting sector accounts for about 20 per cent of the total energy consumption in India. At present, most of the lighting need in domestic and public lighting sector is met by inefficient and conventional incandescent bulbs.

PTI