Tangedco asks consumers to switch to rooftop solar to cut down on energy bills

CHENNAI: After being accused of not doing enough to promote rooftop solar among domestic consumers, Tangedco has started a social media campaign to promote solar which will help consumers to cut down on their energy bills and get a quick return on investment while reducing their carbon footprint.

For the first time, Tangedco put out a tweet promoting solar saying five reasons why you should switch to solar energy. "Switching to solar rooftops is a game-changer. It reduces your carbon footprint, cut utility costs and enjoy long-term savings and takes control of the energy supply. Switch to solar rooftops and make a lasting impact," the tweet reads.

Tangedco pushed for the solar arguing that installation of the rooftop panels would boost the property value and it can be installed on any roof type without the need for extra space. In another tweet, it said a 1-kilowatt rooftop system generally requires 10 square meters of shadow-free area.

The utility's solar promotion comes at a time when consumers felt the real impact of the last year's steep hike in energy charges during the peak summer season. A senior Tangedco official said that they started promoting rooftop solar through social media for the benefit of the consumers.

The official said that interested consumers can apply for rooftop solar using the utility's portal. "We are also working Bengaluru-based Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP) to develop a tool to help the consumer determine the rooftop solar capacity that can be installed on their rooftops. The initial works have begun. In three to four months, the consumers will be able to make use of the online tool, " the official added.

As of now, 27,600 LT consumers including 17,072 domestic consumers have installed rooftop solar with a cumulative generation capacity of 193 MW. Tangedco has received online applications for rooftop solar installation from 3600 consumers including 1299 applications from the National Solar Rooftop portal.

On the complaints of delay in the installation of net meters for the rooftop solar consumers, the official said that it was there a couple of months back. "All the digital meters procured for the low-tension consumers are bi-directional ones. We are not separately purchasing the bi-directional meters. The same meters setting will be changed and installed," the official clarified.