Kerala to distribute CFL bulbs to 75 lakh households

Thiruvananthapuram, March 13 : In what is being billed as the single biggest programme to save electricity, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) will from Monday distribute two 14 watts compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs to 75 lakh households in the state at subsidised rates.

State Electricity Minister A.K. Balan told reporters Saturday that the state level inauguration of the scheme Monday will have Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan handing over a pair of CFL bulbs to Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy.

"The CFL bulbs would be distributed across the state and each household will have to hand over two 60 watt bulbs and Rs.30 in lieu of two CFL bulbs, which costs Rs.300 in the open market. Philips is supplying these CFL bulbs for which the state government will give Rs.40 crore and the KSEB would put in Rs 54.50 crore," said Balan.

Kerala, which is heavily dependant on hydel power, is in dire straits as the water in the dams is receding due to the excessive heat while daily consumption of electricity is increasing.

"The peak load daily consumption in the state is more than 3,000 mega watts and through the use of these CFL bulbs alone, the state will save around 250 mega watts daily at the peak load time," Balan said.

KSEB chairperson Rajeev Sadanandan said that apart from saving electricity, KSEB is going to earn carbon credits for saving energy and also in reducing pollution.

"As soon as the complete distribution of CFLs to all the households is done by end of May, a team of evaluators will arrive to do a physical verification of the bulbs that has been collected by us. They will then issue a certificate which is needed for us to get the precious carbon credits, which can be sold in the carbon credit market," said Sadanandan.

The current market rate for one unit of carbon credit is USD 9, while it was USD 20 ahead of the global economic slowdown.