Andhra govt on energy-saving mission, to replace 1L fans

KOLKATA: Give your old fan to the government and take home a new, energy-efficient, replacement. The new fan would blow the same volume of air and cut an estimated Rs 750 a year from your electricity bill, compensating for the Rs 100 installment you need to pay for 19 months towards the remaining cost of the fan. The Andhra Pradesh government, in collaboration with Energy Efficiency Services ( EESL), has decided to implement a pilot programme to replace one lakh fans from households at Narasapuram town in West Godavari district.

"We would be procuring one lakh fans to start with. Bids have already been invited and would be opened early next month," EESL MD Saurabh Kumar said. "These fans are to be at least 40% more energy efficient and will help save 150 units (of electricity) a year at the minimum. If the average power tariff is Rs 5 per unit, one fan will lead to savings of at least Rs 750 each year. The extra outgo as a result of EMIs of Rs 100 will be compensated by the savings on power consumption in three years."

Kumar is confident of the success of the pilot and hopes to launch the project on a national level. "We started with Andhra Pradesh because the state government was ready to experiment with fans that consume a lot of power in every household in the coastal state. In fact, the Electricity Regulatory Commission has already approved the plan and we hope to start ex changing fans by the third week of February 2016," he said.

Fans consume the highest amount of power in any household, with a study indicating that on average fans run 12 hours to 14 hours a day, a senior EESL official said. "Each year, some six crore fans are sold of which four crore units are supplied by some 16-17 organised players, while the rest two crore are catered to by unorganised players," the official added.