councilofpowerutilities@gmail.com
Bharat B Patel |President | India Pump Manufacturers Association (IPMA).
What has changed for the pumps segment after BEE put in norms for the sector?
For the consumers and the market the star rating in the initial years appeared very attractive, but in the past few years, the market has failed to register the expected response for star rated products. This is because a majority of the consumers are from agricultural background, constituting 45 per cent of the domestic pump market. Remember, electricity is free for this segment of consumers, and they are not really bothered about the product being energy efficient. For them, their requirement of pumping water should be met. One good thing that happened in the recent past is that the government departments have started insisting on the installation of star rated pumps. This is possible because the work is awarded through tenders. However, barring that, there is no real movement for energy efficient motors from smaller consumers. If you compare the price of star rated and non-star rated products, the difference is not much and availability for both is equal.
I feel, it is going to be the same for energy efficiency (star rating) in products And I am hopeful that the change will happen in the near future.