75,485 LED bulbs fitted to street lights reducing overall power consumption by 67 percent

Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has reduced about 50 percent of power consumption for street lights thus saving the total expenditure by Rs. 14.8 crore per annum, thanks to the installation of 75,485 Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs to the street lights.

Apart from increasing the lux capacity by switching over to LED, MCC implemented the plan under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) to save overall power consumption, which has gradually cut down the monthly maintenance cost along with saving money for its exchequer.

The poles fitted with LED bulbs can be seen not just lightening the city roads, but also parks, burial grounds and other public places. They are operated under Centralised Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) equipped with auto on and off facility.

Nodal Officer of MCC Sai Shankar told Star of Mysore “According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MCC and Escort Energy Solutions Limited (EESL), it is mandatory to save 58.77 per cent power. However, due to the installation of LED bulbs of minimum 16 watt to 120 watt in accordance with requirement, MCC is saving 65 percent to 67 percent of power. Moreover, the total number of LED bulbs (75,485) exceed the number of 57,000 conventional bulbs installed earlier, thus cutting down the monthly maintenance cost by Rs. 45 lakh which can be calculated at Rs. five crore per annum. Besides, the monthly electricity bill has come down by Rs. 85 lakh to Rs. 90 lakh against Rs. 2.51 crore paid towards electricity bill earlier.”

Most of the cities in the country including the ‘Clean City’ fame Indore in Madhya Pradesh have adopted LED system in their street lights plan. Moreover,

Smart Meters have been installed to keep a tab on power consumption, that has come in handy in raising the issue in case of any queries. Earlier, there as was no provision to raise any queries irrespective of differences in power bill, added MCC Nodal Officer Sai Shankar.

Any queries regarding street lights among public will be attended by dedicated control room that works round the clock. The control room can be reached on toll-free number- 18004255925.

Stop tapping power from poles

MCC officials have appealed the general public to stop drawing electricity directly from electric poles, during fairs and other events. It not just increases power consumption, but also the bill. The public should understand on their own and refrain from such activities, so that it would help in saving power and provide the service to all without any complaints.