National Compact Fluorescent Lighting Distribution Program Baseline Customer Survey

Funding Agency: Asian Development Bank
Client: Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal
Date:  Nov 2009 – March 2010

The Overall Objective of this project was (1) to improve sanitary living conditions in the urban areas of the two districts and (2) to contribute to poverty alleviation by providing services to the poorest population and creating job opportunities in the waste and recycling activities.

The Project Purpose was to establish a sustainable, regional municipal waste management system in the project area. This is achieved through an institutionalized cooperation between the municipalities in the two districts, providing services also to the surrounding semi-urban VDCs and to private and institutional waste producers.

The three project components were: 1) Regional SWM infrastructure development (including the construction of the landfill); 2) Waste Management operation and financial system; and 3) Environmental Sustainability and public participation.

Nepal is presently experiencing critical power shortages. Both supply- and demand-side options can be used to reduce the gap between the demand for and the supply of electricity. Supply-side management measures tend to have medium- to long-term gestation periods, whereas demand-side management (DSM) options can be implemented in a short period of time, are often low cost, and are characterized by high benefit–cost ratios. Among various DSM alternatives that can be implemented quickly, a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) distribution program has been identified as a viable option.

The proposed CFL program provides for the distribution of 1 million energy-efficient CFLs to residential consumers drawing electricity from Nepal’s electricity grid. CFLs will be distributed free of charge to lifeline households 1 and on a buy-one-get-one-free basis to nonlifeline households. CFL models of 9–11 watts (W) will replace 40 W incandescent bulbs, 12–15 W CFLs will replace 60 W incandescent bulbs, and 20–23 W CFLs will replace 100 W incandescent bulbs.

The Government has approved the National Electricity Crises Mitigation Plan 20652 to manage the present acute energy supply shortages. Under the plan, the government intends to mobilize its resources to mitigate the adverse impacts of the power sector supply deficits. The plan identifies the CFL buy-one-get-one-free scheme as a pilot program for immediate implementation. It is estimated that there are more than 3.6 million incandescent bulbs currently sold every year in the market. Although the use of CFLs has significantly increased in the last few years, the proliferation of low-quality CFLs has distorted consumer perceptions of CFLs as reliable substitutes for incandescent bulbs. It is expected that the distribution of high-quality CFLs to residential customers will influence the consumption habit toward the adoption of CFLs in light points previously fitted with incandescent bulbs.

Overall Services provided by firm:

The study proposed to undertake a baseline household energy survey in all five regions of Nepal. The survey requirement included:

1. A total of 1505 households in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Kirtipur, Bhaktapur, Thimi, Birgunj (Parsa), Simara (Bara), Hetauda (Makawanpur), Biratnagar (Morang), Dharan (Sunsari), Itahari (Sunsari), Pokhara (Kaski), Butwal (Rupandehi), Bhairahawa (Rupandehi), Nepalgunj (Banke), Kohalpur (Banke), Gorahi (Dang) were surveyed and questionnaires were filled;
2. An MS Acess Programme was developed and the data received were entered in this programme;
3. Entered Data were cleaned, analysed using SPSS programme and produced required information along with suitable charts.