About Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA)

• Launched in 2015, UJALA is the world’s largest domestic lighting project.  
• It was launched with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs and to nullify the high-cost of LEDs that acted as a barrier previously in the adoption of energy-efficient systems.
• UJALA scheme aims to promote: 
  • efficient use of energy at the residential level; 
  • enhance the awareness of consumers about the efficacy of using energy efficient appliances and 
  • aggregating demand to reduce the high initial costs thus facilitating higher uptake of LED lights by residential users.
• It is spearheaded and implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power.

Who is eligible to get LEDs under the UJALA scheme?

• Every domestic household having a metered connection from their respective Electricity Distribution Company is eligible to get the LED bulbs under the UJALA Scheme.
• The consumer can purchase the LED on EMI payment (monthly/bimonthly instalments in electricity bill) or on upfront payment by paying the full amount. 
• UJALA appliances can be purchased at Rs 70 per LED bulb, Rs 220 per LED tube light and Rs 1110 per Fan. The price of appliances consist of components such as price of bulb, distribution, awareness cost, which is discovered through competitive bidding, Annual Maintenance Cost (AMC), cost of capital and administrative costs.
• If the LED bulb stops working due to technical defects, EESL provides free-of-cost replacements for a period of one year. 

Where and how can the LED bulb be procured?

• UJALA LED bulbs are being distributed through special counters (kiosks) set up at designated places in a city. These will not be available at retail stores. The location details of distribution counters is available at www.ujala.gov.in, wherein the locations are geo-tagged for consumer convenience.

About SLNP

• Launched in 2015, the Street Lighting National Program (SLNP) aims to replace conventional street lights with smart and energy efficient LED street lights across India.
• While UJALA is the world’s largest domestic lighting project, SLNP is the world’s largest streetlight replacement programme.
• SLNP is also implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited.
• EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs (without any need for municipalities to invest) and the consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality is used to repay EESL over a period of time. 
• EESL is also implementing LED Street lighting projects in Gram Panchayats on the same service model as the SLNP for municipalities with the objective to promote the use of efficient lighting in rural areas.

Objectives

• Mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lighting
• Reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand
• Provide a sustainable service model that obviates the need for upfront capital investment as well as additional revenue expenditure to pay for procurement of LED lights
• Enhance municipal services at no upfront capital cost of municipalities.

Why in News?

• The UJALA and SLNP completed seven years of implementation.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1787594