21 January 2008
interview
Port Louis — - Why is the cost of electricity cheaper after 8 pm?
The chairman of the Central Electricity Board (CEB), Patrick Assirvaden, explained that between 6.30 and 8 pm, many people use electricity - to cook food, watch television or do their homework. As a result, during the so-called peak hours, the CEB needs to run all its generating machines, which comes to an extremely high cost. And these high costs are passed on to consumers. So it is important that people try to save energy specially during that period of the day and their own electricity bills can also be reduced.
- What are the ways of saving energy?
One of the simplest ways is to make sure that no light remains on while no one is in the room or the television on when no one is watching, for instance. However, the CEB also recommends the use of low consumption bulbs. Although they are more expensive than normal bulbs, they can lead to great savings in the long term. They last six to ten times longer, according to the CEB, which should start selling such bulbs at very competitive prices in the near future. If each household used three energy saving bulbs, the CEB would gain an annual amount of Rs 128 million.
- The "save energy" campaign was launched two years ago. Has it produced the expected results?
The chairman of the CEB said that results would only be visible in a few years because habits are hard to change within a short period. This is why the parastatal body has focused more on young people, as they more easily adopt the right attitudes.
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