Consumers advised not to pay more than revised amount
SHILLONG: The prices of LED bulbs sold under the central UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) programme have been further reduced.
The 9W LED bulbs will now be available to consumers for just Rs 70 each. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the Ministry of Power, is implementing this programme across the country. Under the UJALA scheme, the price of LED bulbs may vary from state to state due to applicable local taxes.
EESL has advised consumers not to pay anything above Rs 70 a bulb and this price is applicable on upfront payment only. If consumers notice anyone demanding prices higher than the stated price, they should immediately report such cases on UJALA dashboard www.ujala.gov.in, EESL mail ID [email protected], or on EESL social media handles for Twitter @EESL_India and for Facebook @EESLIndia.
Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director of EESL, said, “The reduction in prices of LED bulbs is another significant step towards the government’s vision of an energy efficient and sufficient India. With this price drop, the LED bulbs have become more affordable for the common man and we hope that this encourages everyone who has not yet got the benefit of the scheme to come forward and switch to LED bulbs.”
The Government has ensured transparency and encouraged competition by adopting e-procurement of goods and services. This has proved time-saving and cost-effective and further enhanced process efficiency. This has led to a much larger participation of bidders, thereby increasing competition and reducing the procurement cost of LED bulbs.
The UJALA scheme has been widely accepted across rural and urban areas of the country. The primary reason for this mass adoption is the capability of LED bulbs to give consistent luminosity even in low voltage, where incandescent and CFL bulbs usually fail. Also, the LED bulbs distributed under the UJALA scheme are superior quality bulbs with a three-year free replacement warranty.
The UJALA scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5, 2015, with a target of replacing 77 crore inefficient bulbs with Energy Efficient LED Bulbs.
Currently, EESL has distributed over 18 crore LED bulbs across 22 states. This is leading to an annual energy savings of 23 billion kWh and resulting in avoidance of 4,698 MW of peak demand. Through the scheme the estimated cumulative cost reduction in bills of consumers, annually is Rs 9,387 crore.