BEST to offer power-saving tubelights to 20,000 homes

Hoping to get citizens to save power, the BrihanMumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) committee will be offering energy-saving tubelights at subsidised rates to 20,000 homes and 5,000 commercial outlets in the city.

Hoping to get citizens to save power, the BrihanMumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) committee will be offering energy-saving tubelights at subsidised rates to 20,000 homes and 5,000 commercial outlets in the city.

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The committee, on Tuesday, received approval from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for its pilot project to replace old tubelights with energy-saving ones.

Residents will get a subsidy of Rs. 200 per tubelight, which means you will have to pay Rs. 407 apiece that originally costs Rs607. For commercial houses, there will be a subsidy of Rs150 per tubelight.

“We came up with the scheme to encourage people to switch from old appliances to energy-saving devices as they consume less power and help save energy,” said Om Prakash Gupta, general manager, BEST.

The committee has allotted Rs1.20 crore for the project which includes replacing tubelight, fans and air conditioners. The initiative will, however, begin with tubelights, for which Rs. 47.5 lakh has been allotted.

Each of the 20,000 households will get two subsidised tubelights, while each of the 5,000 commercial houses will get five subsidised tubelights.

“It is not mandatory for people to avail of energy-saving appliances. But, it will help decrease their power bills. The project will take off from mid-March,” Gupta said.