Fozia Azam

National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA) is working on a program to replace the existing stock of old, inefficient fans with energy-efficient fans from July 1 onwards. “The fan replacement program will target three tiers of the society including low-income class, average income/middle class, and high-income class,” said Sabeih Haidre, Director of Strategy Management at NEECA, while talking to WealthPK. “Under the program, mechanisms such as bill financing and easy instalment loans will be offered to facilitate the replacement of old fans for each income group,” he explained.

NEECA has already informed the fan manufacturing firms to prepare for producing energy-efficient fans as per standards approved by Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). The PSQCA has also prepared a statutory regulatory order (SRO) legally binding on fan manufacturers to produce such fans for effective implementation of energy efficiency and conservation initiatives. To make energy-efficient fans affordable, a plan is under consideration to sell them in instalments to consumers and cost may be recovered through electricity bills.

“If all the existing inefficient fans are replaced with energy-efficient ones, it is expected that it will help save Rs700 billion annually, as the energy-efficient fans will consume about 40 to 60 watts of electricity compared to the old ones consuming about 120 to 130 watts of electricity,” Sabeih said. He said a ban will be imposed on the manufacturing of electrical fans with energy efficiency rate of less than 90%, and only the fans with energy efficiency rate of more than 90% will be allowed. The most energy efficient fans have a three-star energy rating from NEECA, and such fans are especially designed with energy efficiency and high performance.

“Energy efficiency and conservation had been neglected in Pakistan for decades as the planners mostly focused on adding generation capacity rather than working on reducing the energy demand,” said Mustafa Abdullah, a solar and wind project developer and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moro Power Company Pvt LTD. He said energy efficiency and conservation can provide highly impactful and cost-effective solutions to quickly respond to energy crisis. Given the high energy intensity of Pakistan’s economy and the emerging energy efficiency market, there is a huge scope for demand-side improvement.According to energy experts, if the existing high electricity consumption fans are replaced by energy-efficient fans, it can reduce power load-shedding to a considerable level.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk