Bureau of Energy Efficiency & State Designated Agencies (BEE)

The primary energy demand in India is very high. It has grown from about 450 million tons of oil equivalent (toe) in 2000 to about 770 million toe in 2012. This is expected to increase to about 1,250 (estimated by International Energy Agency) to 1,500 (estimated in the Integrated Energy Policy Report) million toe in 2030. 

Despite these high numbers and before creation of the BEE, there were no minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) or energy building codes and no energy performance certificates for buildings in India, nor were there MEPS or energy labeling for appliances.

There was not even a sufficient knowledge about the typical energy consumption values of buildings.
Consequently, the Energy Conservation Act (EC Act) was enacted in 2001 with the goal of reducing energy intensity of 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 (Ministry of Power, n.d.).

The mission of Bureau of Energy Efficiency is to 'institutionalize' energy efficiency services, enable delivery mechanisms in the country and provide leadership to energy efficiency in all sectors of the country. 

The prime aim of BEE is to reduce energy intensity in the country’s economy and promote energy efficiency through various strategies and policies. This includes institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organizations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities to promote the efficient use of energy and its conservation.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency also aims at organizing the energy efficiency services available and to develop mechanisms to offer these services.

National

BEE has no technological focus, rather it covers all energy efficiency relevant technologies as per the targeted sector(s). For instance in building sector, the ECBC components include: 

• Building envelope (walls, roofs, windows)
• Lighting (indoor and outdoor)
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
• Solar water heating and pumping
• Electrical systems (power factor, transformers)
• Many important types of appliances are also addressed

With the policies and programs it implements, the BEE targets at the construction and sale of energy-efficient buildings (based on a whole-building approach) as well as at the manufacture and sale of energy-efficient appliances and building technologies (Bureau of Energy Efficiency, 2015). For example:

• Bachat Lamp Yojna (BLY):  29 million CFLs have been distributed under the BLY scheme during XIth plan, which helped to avoid Generation Capacity of 415 MW of electricity. 
• ECBC sets minimum energy performance standards for the design and construction of new commercial (on a voluntary basis). Furthermore, intensive training workshops are provided at different locations of the country and also the technical support for various demonstration projects for different categories of buildings in different climatic zones.
• Standard & Labeling (S&L): The S&L initiative of the BEE has seen a great development since its launch in 2006. Presently the Standard and Labeling scheme covers 21 appliances in India, of which 7 appliances come under the mandatory category and rest 14 in the voluntary category. It has contributed a lot to the consumer market transformation in this sector by enabling consumers to make informed choices.
• Demand Side Management
  • To build the technical & managerial capacity of the energy conservation cell of ULBs.
  • Involving various stakeholders to create a market transformation in energy efficiency.
  • Facilitating state Urban Developments to create institutional arrangements through which projects can be implemented.

Relevant target groups

• Architect Architects play a key role in the design of buildings, ECBC has mandatory and prescriptive provisions for building envelope and systems, and inclusion of these provisions in design is a responsibility of an architect.
• Construction company Construction companies are responsible for implementation of design specifications provided by the design team.
• Installation contractor Many provisions of ECBC require the installation contractors to meet the prescribed standards, e.g. leakage and insulation.
• Manufacturer For selected appliances the manufacturers have to comply with the minimum energy performance criterion.
• Property development company The Property development companies are responsible for major constructions and for the implementation of the specifications in various guidelines for buildings developed by BEE.
• Real estate agent States where the ECBC is notified in state gazette, all the buildings falling under the preview of ECBC must follow the code.
• User BEE has developed various policies which has provided benefits directly to the end users. In order to achieve the savings, the problems of the users were understood and targeted.
• Energy Service Company Energy service companies (ESCOs) play a key role in implementing energy efficiency measures, through innovative financial mechanism. BEE promotes the ESCO approach and has a list of empanelled companies which can be approached for implementing energy efficiency.
• Research institution and university Research organization and universities are approached by BEE for developing the capability of stakeholders in the implementation of energy efficiency programs.
• Trade association Trade associations are the key to make a product reach the market, and they help to reach the products in the market keeping in mind benefit of both users and retailers.

Direct beneficiaries

• Architect

  The project which involves energy efficiency as primary goals require integrated design approach, this is a iterative design process. Architects generally charge more for such projects, thus benefit financially.

• Manufacturer

  For those appliances for which the star rating or the minimum energy performance criteria is mandatory, BEE has provided well laid schedules for the star rating of those and are used by manufacturers to develop the inventory of products with better efficiencies.

• System supplier

  The BEE provides the prescribed efficiencies of systems, which can be used by system suppliers to remove the systems of outdated efficiencies from market and to provide new and more efficient systems.

• Investor-occupier

  Investor occupier are the direct beneficiaries as the benefit of investment made for energy efficiency in form of operational energy savings.

• Tenant

  Tenants normally take benefit of operational energy savings but very often they have to pay a premium for such properties.

• Energy consultant

  The demand of the professionals in field of energy efficiency increases.

Market penetration of energy efficient products and services is often a huge challenge faced in any economy. This is most influenced by prices, financing, international trade, market structure, institutions, the provision of information and social, cultural and behavioral factors. Indian economy is no exception to these market barriers. Private sector investments and utilization of public funding often require government support and intervention for promotion of EE market.

With the promotional and informational programs, BEE has been able to raise consumer awareness towards EE. This also raises market competition within manufacturers to produce cost-efficient energy efficient appliances and products and also gives them social recognition for their environmentally sound behavior.

Through Public-Private Partnership models, BEE has been able to address energy efficiency program financing problem.

Relevant barriers

• Technical barriers: : In some cases, the governmental actors do not have the technical expertise required for the implementation of the policies.
• Knowledge and information barriers: The implementation authorities and consumers both face this information barrier as they are not able to understand the technicalities of the policies and measures.
• Organisational barriers: Since there are a lot of actors involved, the perfect synchronization is not possible and causes delays. A central organization, like an agency can bring interests together and work out joint strategies.

Relevant incentives

• Saved energy costs: Due to the cost-effective policies implemented by BEE.
• Unique selling proposition for suppliers: By the introduction of the energy efficient technology the seller can market the new products and achieve huge profits.
• Improved reputation: Because of the energy efficient products the company with focus on these products becomes a renowned company.
• Contribution to protection of the environment: Since the products covered under BEE now consume less energy or are more eco-friendly, therefore contribute towards the protection of environment.

BEE and the policies and measures it introduces and implements can be seen as the energy efficiency policy package.

The DELP scheme (now known as UJALA) was launched by EESL in collaboration with BEE. The main aim of the scheme was to replace the less efficient light bulbs used by people to LED bulbs and this drastically brought down the manufacturing costs of LED bulbs from INR 500-600 per unit to INR 100 per unit of an LED bulb.

Also the project for the implementation of ECBC the BEE is working in partnership with UNDP for the setting up of ECBC cells in different states and make a separate body in states for the smooth implementation of the ECBC policy.

The policies designed and implemented by the BEE have several innovative elements. For example, with the several lessons learned from the BLY program, BEE is working on defining innovative national policies and programs which resembles the envisaged scope of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). Furthermore, BEE is also developing Super-Efficient Equipment Program (SEEP) that would incentivize manufactures to produce and sell super-efficient equipment/ appliances for accelerated introduction to bring market transformation. These types of equipment are 30 – 50% more efficient than counterparts in market. 

BEE also plans to establish a technical advisory committee, support teams and any other committees when needed for its projects. The team members will include distinguished stakeholders such as Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, donor agencies such as US-AID, British High Commission, Swiss Development Corporation, GIZ, and non-government agencies such as The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and developers such as DLF. The technical advisory committee gives advice to the project team on technical issues; review energy audits and data management; advice on approach selection; and suggest policy issues of relevance to energy efficiency and energy conservation approach/technology adoption in the commercial building sector.

The local bodies and State Designated Agencies (SDA) help in the implantation of policies in the local zones or states, as they cannot be directly controlled by BEE. So the work for implementation at the local level is done by ULBs and SDAs, which then report to BEE.

The EC Act of 2001 is the main pre-condition to the institutionalization of the energy agency. BEE commissions third agencies to monitor and verify energy efficiency programs. BEE works with ESCO, Energy Auditors, Energy Managers to implementing EE projects.

Most of BEE programs are internationally funded. E.g. BLY lighting scheme was initiated with the support from GIZ GmbH. Other partnerships were built up with GEF, UNDP, and EESL.

The Energy Conservation Act (see: www.beeindia.in) empowers BEE with certain quasi regulatory and promotional roles as described below: 

Quasi Regulatory Role

It involves aiding and advising the central and the state governments in the following subjects of the EC Act: 

1. Prescribing minimum energy performance standards and informative labels for end use equipment and appliances. 
2. Development and implementation of Energy Conservation Building Codes 
3. Enhancing energy efficiency of high energy using sectors defined as designated consumers by: 
4. Developing specific energy consumption norms 
5. Certifying and accreditation of Energy Managers and Energy Auditors 
6. Defining the manner and periodicity of mandatory energy audits 
7. Developing reporting formats on energy consumption and action taken on the recommendations of the energy auditors.

The Ministry of Power in India is responsible for the design of BEE.

Dynamic market transformation and or innovation

The BEE aims at bringing market transformations and in innovative technologies by setting up ambitious building codes and MEPS.

Minimising snap-back effects

There is no snap back effect observed till date for the policies implemented by BEE as they are not yet closed, only to mention the Bachat Lamp Yojna, which is still active but over taken by the UJALA or DELP scheme.

Present trend of population growth and economic development in India shall lead to higher demand for new technologies. This will lead to higher investment by manufacturers and creation of employment in green business. Also the energy efficient technology introduced in the market would benefit the consumer to reduce the lifetime cost of the products with less harm to the environment.

The following barriers have been experienced during the implementation of the policy:

Creating awareness was one of the major barriers faced by BEE as the people do not want to invest in newer technologies until the older ones are working fine and the initial investment of any new product is higher It became difficult to push the market towards the newer technologies.

At the institutional level the following barriers are faced by the BEE:

• Aggregation of baseline data for various energy intensive sectors and for buildings. Lack of established testing protocol for energy efficiency
• Infiltration into regional market due to existing unorganized markets, which requires institutional coordination between state and central level.
• Institutional capacity for upscale of the schemes nationally.
• Robust model for monitoring and verification
• Incentive-based promotion for manufacturers in addition to the market-based promotion

Overall, the programs (S&L, BLY, ECBC etc.) of BEE has resulted in 7.68 Billion kWh of energy savings, equivalent to avoided capacity generation of 1196 MW in the year 2012-2013 as compared to the 2011-2012 baseline (Bureau of Energy Efficiency 2013).

Overall savings of 1,196 MW was achieved in the year 2012-2013.
(Bureau of Energy Efficiency 2013)

BEE’s implemented and envisaged policies are expected to be cost-effective.