25 lakh units of power are wasted every day
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While the escoms are quick to preach energy saving when it comes to consumption by ordinary consumers, government agencies themselves don’t seem to care enough to even switch off streetlights on time. Take the BBMP, which maintains around 4.3 lakh streetlights of various kinds in the city - sodium vapour bulbs, mercury bulbs, tubelights, light emitting diode (LED) and solar-powered lights -the last two installed on a trial basis in a few parts of the city.
Some estimates suggest that about 25 lakh units of power are wasted every day as these lights are not switched off on time. As saving one unit of electricity is equal to saving Rs 1, this in effect means the BBMP is wasting around Rs 25 lakhs by simply not switching off the lights when it should. And despite servicing the IT city, both the BBMP and Bescom are only now putting in place an automatic on/off system for the streetlights. While approving the hike in tariff, the KERC recommended measures to reduce power consumption, losses and the overall costs incurred, but it clearly does not believe in monitoring government agencies that dont toe its line.
The energy department itself doesn't seem to be doing enough to bring down the transmission and distribution losses which amount to over 18 per cent of the power distributed in the state. The only silver lining is the Time of the Day (ToD) tariff which the KERC has decided to introduce as it could help bring down peak hour consumption and save much needed power for use the rest of the day .
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