MOSL: EXPERT SPEAK-Electrical Consumer Durables – Electric vehicles, smart meters and solar rooftops key focus areas for EESL

​EXPERT SPEAK: Electrical Consumer Durables – Electric vehicles, smart meters and solar rooftops key focus areas for EESL

Mr Saurabh Kumar; MD, Energy Efficiency Services (EESL)

Mr Saurabh Kumar has been EESL’s Managing Director since May 2013. He is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Officer of the 1992 batch. An Electrical Engineer from IIT Kanpur, he also has a Master in Public Policy from National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan. He has worked in various capacities in Income Tax Department, Ministry of Power, and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). He was Secretary, BEE during 2007-2010.

• We hosted a conference call with Mr Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), the nodal government agency for bulk procurement of LED lamps, durables, electric vehicles, and smart meters. Our key takeaways:

Electric vehicles, smart meters and solar rooftops key focus areas over next few years; durables less so, given low offtake by consumers

• Electric vehicles, smart meters, and solar rooftops are the three areas EESL is targeting over the next few years – will involve capex of INR150b, of which INR100b will be for electric vehicles alone.
• EESL has reduced focus on durables (fans, air conditioners, tube lights), which have seen low offtake – low awareness with the end consumer about the benefits of energy-efficient products is a key reason for this.
• Agricultural pumps too have not picked up, since there was a problem with getting the “base date” for energy efficiency calculations. EESL has decided to go slow in this product category.