Raipur raipur news. Deputy Chief Minister and Urban Administration and Development Minister Arun Saw has given instructions for electricity bill and energy audit in all 184 urban bodies of the state. He has asked to use solar energy in place of traditional energy as far as possible. Directing the officials of the Urban Administration Department, he has said that in most of the bodies, electricity bills are not paid on time due to lack of funds in this item. Due to this, urban bodies and the department have to unnecessarily pay additional amount to the electricity department every year in the form of surcharge and arrears. Audit of energy and electricity bills will facilitate in taking measures to save them. Saw has asked to promote the use of green energy instead of traditional energy in urban bodies to save electricity and reduce its expenses. This will reduce the expenses of the bodies as well as improve the environment. The Deputy Chief Minister has given instructions to get the work of energy audit done by third party professional agencies in a phased manner.
A large number of electricity connections have been taken in urban bodies for the operation of various public facilities like drinking water supply and street lighting in urban areas. For this, thousands of electricity meters have been installed by the Electricity Department in all 184 urban bodies of the state. Through these meters, the electricity bill is sent to the bodies by the Electricity Department by taking meter readings every month. A large amount is spent by the bodies every month in the form of electricity bills. Many times the bodies and the Urban Administration Department have to pay additional amount to the Electricity Department in the form of surcharge and arrears. Every year, an amount of about Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore is transferred by the department to the Electricity Department for adjustment of electricity bills in urban bodies. At present, due to pending payment of about Rs 800 crore, the amount of surcharge is continuously increasing.
In view of this situation, Deputy Chief Minister Arun Saw has directed the officials to conduct audit and energy audit of electricity bills of urban bodies in the departmental review meeting. With this, a clear assessment of the actual electricity consumption and the payment being made for unnecessary surcharge can be done by auditing the electricity bill of each body. After the audit, a policy will also be prepared to reduce electricity consumption and install solar power plants. Reducing electricity consumption and installing solar power plants will save about Rs 800 crore to Rs 1000 crore in the long term. Also, the bodies will also get carbon credit by using green energy. Mr. Saw said that with the amount saved in this way, other works of infrastructure development in the bodies and new schemes can be started to provide basic facilities to the citizens. Inclusion of solar energy in energy management in the bodies and reduction in the use of thermal energy will also promote environmental sustainability.
Instructions to make urban bodies energy efficient by maximum use of solar energy, action plan is being prepared for pilot project
chhattisgarh news Deputy Chief Minister Arun Saw has given instructions to make urban bodies energy efficient by maximum use of solar energy. An action plan for the pilot project is being prepared by the Urban Administration Department to conduct energy audit to collect actual information of electricity consumption in the bodies. Through energy audit, the actual consumption of electricity in urban bodies and the irregularities and deficiencies in the system will be identified and after analysing the electricity bills, the use of energy efficient equipment will be encouraged, there will be savings in bills by reducing electricity consumption and alternative systems like solar energy system will be adopted in a phased manner. The Government of India has also started innovative schemes like PM Kusum, PM Suryodaya and PM Suryaghar to promote the use of solar energy in place of conventional energy.
