The state government is expected to pay Rs11 crore annually, for a period of seven years, to Delhi-based Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) to replace conventional streetlights with energy-efficient light emitting diodes (LED) across seven urban local bodies (ULBs).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between state officials and EESL representatives. The state government agreed make payments on the basis of a reduction in power consumption bill after LED lights replace traditional streetlights. EESL CMD Saurabh Kumar said the current energy bill of ULBs has been fixed as the baseline expenditure of the state government.
He further exclaimed that the ULBs will continue to pay power bills at the baseline rate, while actual power consumption will reduce after LED lights are installed. He also notified that they are going to meet their expenses and earn profit from a reduction in power consumption. It will be a performance-based service delivery system according to Kumar.
The identified ULBs include Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chas, Hazaribag, Medninagar (Daltonganj), Jamshedpur and Deoghar. EESL plans to install over 40,000 LED streetlights across the seven ULBs at an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore.
Principal secretary of the urban development department A K Singh said the scheme will soon be extended to all ULBs and a state control room will monitor power consumption. “We are also developing an application that will allow users to send feedback about non-functional streetlights or report a fault through SMS. EESL officials will be obligated to rectify the problem within 72 hours,” said Singh.
By EB Bureau
