Energy Conservation Act

The Energy Conservation Act (EC Act) was enacted in 2001 with the goal of reducing energy intensity of the Indian economy. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was set up as the statutory body on 1st March 2002 at the central level to facilitate the implementation of the EC Act. The Act provides a regulatory mandate for:Standards & labelling of equipment and appliances;Energy conservation building codes for commercial buildings; andEnergy consumption norms for energy intensive industries.In addition, the Act enjoins the Central Govt. and the Bureau to take steps to facilitate and promote energy efficiency in all sectors of the economy. The Act also directs states to designate agencies for the implementation of the Act and promotion of energy efficiency in the state. The EC Act was amended in 2010. The main amendments of the Act concern the following:The Central Government may issue the energy savings certificate to the designated consumer whose energy consumption is less than the prescribed norms and standards in accordance with the procedure as may be prescribed.The designated consumer whose energy consumption is more than the prescribed norms and standards shall be entitled to purchase energy savings certificate to comply with the prescribed norms and standards.The Central Government may, in consultation with the Bureau, prescribe the value of per metric ton of oil equivalent of energy consumed.Commercial buildings, which are having a connected load of 100 kW or contract demand of 120 kVA and above, come under the purview of ECBC under EC Act.The Ministry of Power, through Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), has initiated a number of energy efficiency initiatives in the areas of household lighting, commercial buildings, S&L of appliances, demand side management in the agricultural sector and municipalities, SME's and large industries including the initiation of the process for development of energy consumption norms for industrial sub sectors, capacity building of SDA's etc.The target of energy savings for these schemes during the XI plan period was set to 10,000 MW of avoided generation capacity. These initiatives have resulted in avoided capacity generation of 10836 MW during the XI plan period.

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