What if you could ensure that your housing society no longer pays exorbitant bills?

Around eight years ago, the residents of MSR-Olive Co-Op Housing Society Ltd in Dattanagar, Pune, spent close to Rs 1.6 lakh per month.

The housing society, which has over 200 flats spread across eight wings, consumed massive amounts of electricity.

It was around the same time that the Maharashtra Government announced the online gridding of solar power, offering a 30 percent subsidy and allowing excess electricity to be introduced into the main grid.

The residential society members collectively decided to install the solar panels and Ravindra Akolkar, chairman of the society, says it has been a boon.

It helped them bring down their monthly electricity bill from lakhs of rupees to just thousands!

Here’s how you can do it too.

1. Start with a 50 KW solar panel In 2016, the society spent about Rs 31 lakh to install a 50 KW solar panel on their terrace. “The electricity tariff was about Rs 11 per unit then, and it saved us Rs 10.80 lakh during the first year,” Akolkar said.

2. Scale up as required “Satisfied with the savings, we spent another Rs 15 lakh to set up an additional solar power unit of 30 KW to meet the electricity requirements,” Akolkar added. The solar power panels generated 70,0000 KWh of electricity per year, meeting all the power needs.

3. Plant trees The housing society has also planted over 400 trees of native species such as jamun, jackfruit, banyan, peepul, coconut, neem, mango, and more. “We aim to create a mini forest and create carbon credits to mitigate the carbon footprint,” Akolkar notes.

He adds, “Being environmentally conscious is the need of the hour, and more people should take steps towards it.”

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