KOCHI: The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has decided to distribute LED bulbs worth `1 crore to the public. The initiative titled ‘Filament Free Kerala’, is one of the five projects envisaged by the state government. The project will try to replace incandescent lamps and CFLs, used by over 80 lakh domestic consumers and other institutions, with LED bulbs.
The decision to distribute the LED bulbs was made after a meeting by Power Minister M M Mani with various representatives of the KSEB officers. As part of the first phase of the project, LED bulbs worth `1 crore will be distributed to primarily registered consumers, who are around 15 lakh. A domestic consumer will receive a 9 W LED bulb worth `65, inclusive of all charges.
However, Kerala Power Board Officers’ Federation has urged the board to avoid any such extra expenses on purchase of LED bulbs and suggested distributing them through the counters in electricity section offices. The federation also demanded the disposal of all obtained incandescent lamps and CFL bulbs without any delay. KSEB CMD N S Pillai and other representatives of the board also participated in the meeting.