An electricity consumer, who had installed a Roof Top Solar (RTS) plant atop his independent house at Vudanagar Phase-I at Kurmannapalem five years ago, has been saving around ₹2,500 a month on electricity bills during the peak summer months!
Missed out availing of the benefit of installing an RTS plant in phase-I? Here’s another golden opportunity. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has sanctioned 8 MW capacity to APEPDCL in the residential sector under phase-II of the Grid Connected RTS programme with timelines for completion of the allocated capacity within 15 months.
Interested consumers can apply for RTS on the online web portal of APEPDCL at https://onlineapp.ap
“We had installed a 2 KW RTS plant about five years ago at a cost of ₹2 lakh, which includes the cost of equipment, fixing and wiring. We had received a subsidy of ₹75,000,” Kanchumurthy Eswar, a retired Assistant General Manager of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP), residing at Vudanagar, told The Hindu on Monday.
“While the saving on power bill is around ₹2,500 on an average for us during the peak summer months, during winter the savings average around ₹500 a month due to reduced consumption and also the decline in solar generation. I have never encountered any problem all these years, except a minor issue with the batter panel, which was done free of cost barring service charges as it was in the warranty period,” he said.
“We had entered into a 25-year-contract with APEPDCL. During peak summer, our RTS plant generates 130 units a month. The solar units exported to the grid will be credited to my account. In addition to this, I am getting an annual subsidy from the government. Recently, I was given ₹200 as subsidy in my last bill,” says Mr. Eswar.
“A total of 2,516 RTS connections had materialised in phase-I. The subsidy from the Centre was 30% and it was 20% from the State government at that time. The consumer had to pay the entire cost, and was later reimbursed the subsidy by the government. This had proved to be a burden on the average consumers in view of the high investment cost,” says an official of the EPDCL.
“The initial cost of installing a 1 KW RTS plant ranged between ₹85,000 and ₹1 lakh in phase-I, has now come down by around 40% and is around ₹50,000,” the official said.
V. Vijaya Lalitha, Chief General Manager, Energy Conservation, Energy Audit, Solar/APEPDCL, has appealed to consumers from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari districts of APEPDCL jurisdiction to avail of the Central Financial Assistance by installing the grid-connected RTS plants at their homes.
