Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar.—File photo

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar has directed to launch Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) (called energy saver bulbs) distribution programme from April throughout the country in a transparent manner.

He made these directions while presiding over a meeting on distribution plan of CFLs held in Islamabad on Thursday.

The Secretary Ministry of Water and Power, CEOs of power distribution companies (Discos), Programme Coordinator, senior officials of the ministry and representatives of KESC also participated in the meeting.

The minister said the 30 million CFLs will be distributed free of cost to non defaulters domestic consumers under a national energy efficiency programme with the financial cooperation of Asian Development Bank and AFD of France.

He asked the Project Coordinator of NTDC that any further delay in the energy conservation plan will not be allowed.

He asked the Discos to devise a transparent distribution and monitoring mechanism. A proper awareness campaign and plan of distribution must be started for the consumers.

The minister said that the National CFL project is an initiative of the government to improve energy efficiency in power sector.

Approximately 1000 MW will be saved under this programme and will help to reduce the gap between demand and supply and will give relief to industrial and other consumers, he added.

The meeting decided that the CFLs will be distributed in three phases by the discos and in the first phase, lifeline consumers will be given two CFLs in exchange of two healthy Incandescent Bulbs (IBs) of 40 and 100 Watts.

The Ministry of Water and Power will carry out the overall project management. The project will yield clean development mechanism revenues of about $32 Million by 2018. It will reduce consumer’s bills by Rs300 per bulb per year.