From Rs 90 cr to Rs 700 cr company: How LED bulbs lightened fortunes of EESL
In 2008, the then Director General of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Ajay Mathur floated the idea of a new company to sell energy efficient electric equipments.
The novel model developed along with key Power Ministry officials then including current CERC chairperson G B Pradhan aimed at aggregating equipments from market through reverse bidding and then selling at the discovered price. It was also envisaged to work along state and municipal authorities for street lightening and allied works.
The idea was readily accepted by the ministry of power and 2010 saw the birth of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). One of the key BEE executives, Saurabh Kumar, a former Income Tax officer was put at the helm of affairs.
But for six years, EESL was an anonymous organisation though doing commendable work is some southern states. It is now with the NDA government’s much talked about LED distribution program that EESL has come out of the shadows. The company had an equity base of Rs 90 crore in 2010-11. Last fiscal year it clocked a turnover of Rs 700 crore and profits to the tune of Rs 50 crore.
“I am confident that we will touch turnover of Rs 2,500 crore during the current financial year and double our profits over last year,” said Saurabh Kumar, managing director, EESL in an interaction with Business Standard.
Away from the glare, EESL is based Noida Sector-1 sharing office space with Inland Water Authority Limited. The two floors of EESL are lighted up with LED bulbs with teams divided as per the tasks it has taken up – LEDs, Fans, mobile app, web dashboard and building management, state wise teams etc.
EESL’s first claim to fame was in July 2014 when it completed the street lightening program in four months in Pondicherry. In November, it revamped the urban streets of Andhra Pradesh with LED street lights in just two months, after HudHud cyclone caused havoc.
In January 2015, PM Narendra Modi launched Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme or DELP LED distribution program along with Piyush Goyal, minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy. Since then, LED made headlines and EESL expanded its business across the country.
Started with just 10 employees, the company staff 450 people now and is looking to hire another 100. “The current equity of the company is Rs 450 crore. We paid 30 per cent dividend to our promoters. For the coming year we have raised debt of EUR 300 million from German national bank KfW. Recently, ADB approved a line of credit of $200 million and same amount of credit from the World Bank,” said Kumar.
The total LED distribution touched the 10 crore mark in April 2016. The price has crashed by 83 per cent in just a year to Rs 75 per piece. The Power Ministry pegs the savings on power bill to the tune of Rs 14.5 crore per day. The scheme saw name change to UJALA with a real time dashboard and mobile app to track the progress.
EESL calls itself ‘Super Energy Service Company (SuperESCO) with no fixed assets. EESL now plans to handhold other ESCOs in some states and devise standards and verification for energy efficient equipments.
Everyone you meet at EESL office is thankful to the NDA government and an endorsing minister like Goyal. The social media savvy minister is quick to share all the achievements of EESLreal time on different platforms and also flaunting the mobile app tracking LED distrbution.
Shifting gears, in the next phase, agricultural pumps, centrally monitored street lightening programs and Building Management System (BMS) in on the cards for EESL. Under BMS, the company would make government buildings energy efficient. The office of NITI Ayog at Parliament Street has already been retrofitted by EESL and made a 5-Star energy efficient building.
“We will sign MoUs with Central Public Works Department as most government buildings are in their portfolio. We will work along with them to retrofit the buildings with energy efficient lighting and cooling systems. The exercise would start from 20 buildings in North and South block of the Central government,” said Kumar.
Currently, EESL is busy retrofitting the energy guzzling Shram Shakti Bhawan at Rafi Marg, Delhi to set a befitting example. The building among other ministries houses Power Ministry as well. Kumar adds with a smile, “It is 3-Star efficient building now and we will take it to 5-star.”
