Chandigarh, Nov 4 : The palatial residences of Haryana's governor and chief minister in Chandigarh have been refurbished with new energy-efficient lighting worth nearly Rs. 23 lakh that has brought down electricity bills at the two places by nearly Rs. 900,000 annually.

The two sprawling residences of Governor Jagannath Pahadia and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda are among the several buildings that have undergone energy audit under the state's department of renewable energy's plan to conserve energy.

The state's power department has targeted energy conservation to the tune of 500 MW across Haryana.

A department spokesman Wednesday said an energy audit plan has been initiated for private, government, semi-government, industrial, commercial and institutional buildings.

Under the scheme, owners of the buildings would be given financial assistance of up to 50 percent of the investment made for energy saving with the maximum limit of Rs.
50,000, provided they undertook to implement the energy audit report.

As per plans, inefficient lighting, air-conditioning systems and other equipment in industries, private, government, semi-government, institutional and commercial buildings would be replaced with energy efficient devices.

"The investment on implementation of energy audit recommendations would be made by building owners and the entire investment cost would be recovered within two-three years through saving on electricity bills," the spokesman added.

The energy audit of Haryana Raj Bhavan (governor's residence) was conducted in the past year and energy efficient devices were installed on an outlay of Rs. 16.16 lakh.

Officials said this had resulted in an annual saving of 1.2 lakh units of electricity worth Rs. 4.8 lakh.

"The entire amount incurred on the implementation of the audit report would be recovered in three to four years," a department official said here.

At the chief minister's residence, electricity fixtures worth Rs. 6.67 lakh were replaced, resulting in annual energy saving amounting to Rs. 4.16 lakh.

The spokesman said the department had also conducted energy audit of 10 government buildings that pointed to a potential energy saving of 26,484 KW per year.

The state had initiated a Rs. 150-crore campaign in 2008 to install compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and 28 watt tube lights in government buildings across the state. This will result in saving of 9.8 million units.(IANS)