Ahmedabad

Government of India will be launching the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for all (UJALA) in Gujarat tomorrow. The event will be presided by Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The LED bulbs will be available to the consumers across Gujarat for an upfront cost of Rs. 80 and at an EMI of Rs 85/- (against a market price of Rs. 350). Residential consumers in Gujarat have an option of paying the amount upfront or choose an EMI option where there would be no upfront payment and Rs 20 will be added to per bi-monthly electricity bill for a period of eight months.

The bulb will have 3-year replacement warranty. It will be 7-8 watts bulb with luminosity of 900 lumens. Each household will get ten bulbs maximum in first phase. The amount will be charged through electricity bill in eight to ten installments. Availability of bulb will be at offices of power distribution companies, bill cash counters and central government company Energy Efficient Services Limited(EEEL) kiosks.

The UJALA programme is executed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), an organisation under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

EESL procures LED bulbs through competitive bidding from leading manufacturers in the country. This transparent bidding process brings down the price of the LED bulbs. In the first round of procurement, held in 2014, the lowest bid was for Rs. 310. In the recent round of procurement (January 2016), the lowest bid was Rs. 54.90. Since the bulbs are distributed across India, EESL adds administrative costs, distribution and awareness costs along with state-specific taxes and distributes the LED bulbs at a price range of Rs. 75 to Rs. 95 across India. The price variance is subject to the taxes in each state of India.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Shri Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, “We are devoted to bringing down the cost of LED bulbs through transparent e-procurement policies. Due to these policies, there has been a reduction of 83 percent in the cost of LED bulbs over the last two years. We will pass on the benefits of these to our consumers. Gujarat will benefit from this reduction as the price of the LED bulb after addition of taxes and distribution costs is only Rs. 80.”

About EESL:

A joint venture of National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and POWERGRID, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) was set up under Ministry of Power to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects. EESL is a Super Energy Service Company (ESCO) that seeks to unlock energy efficiency market in India, estimated to at US$ 12 billion that can potentially result in energy savings of up to 20 per cent of current consumption, by way of innovative business and implementation models. It also acts as the resource centre for capacity building of State DISCOMs, ERCs, SDAs, upcoming ESCOs, financial institutions, etc.

EESL Distributes LED Bulbs Under “UJALA” in the Range of Rs. 75-95 across 16 States

The LED bulbs under Government of India’ s Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme are being distributed across 16 States in the country in the price range of Rs 75- 95. The project, executed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, procures high quality LED bulbs from leading manufacturers through a transparent bidding process. In the latest round of procurement, which ended on March 31, 2016, the lowest procurement cost was Rs. 54.90 (exclusive of taxes and administrative costs).

The government, through aggregation and transparent procurement has achieved a rapid decline in LED prices. In the first round of procurement held in January 2014, EESL achieved the lowest bid at Rs. 310. The prices for the subsequent procurements for other states, during September 2014 to February 2015, ranged between Rs. 204 to Rs. 104.

EESL has pooled the prices of all the previous procurements since 2014 and the passed on the direct benefit to the consumers across states. Various state-specific taxes and other administrative costs like distribution, awareness, etc are added to the pooled procurement price. Therefore, the cost of the LED bulb has been brought down to a price range of Rs. 75 – Rs. 95, after addition of administrative costs, distribution and awareness cost. Therefore, the variation in the final cost of the bulbs is owing to the difference in taxes across states.

The Government has ensured transparency and encouraged competition by using e-procurement of goods and services. This has resulted in significant reduction in transaction cost and time and enhanced process efficiency. This in turn has led to a much larger participation of bidders thereby increasing competition and reducing the procurement cost of LED bulbs.

The UJALA scheme is being monitored in a transparent manner through a national dashboard (www.ujala.gov.in). As on date, EESL has distributed over 10.77 crore LED bulbs across India and the programme have led to significant savings to the state and consumers who are using these bulbs.

The target of the programme is to replace all the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in India by LEDs. This will result in reduction of 20,000 MW load, energy savings of 100 billion kWh and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions savings of 80 million tons every year. The annual saving in electricity bills of consumers will be Rs. 40,000 crore, considering average tariff of Rs. 4 per kWh.

– DeshGuujarat