Synonymous with BEE, Ajay Mathur parts ways

Recall 2007, when refrigerators started coming with an energy saving guide. Those stars on a red background indicating energy efficiency heralded a new era for consumer durables. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been instrumental since 2001 in bringing energy efficiency to households, industries and commercial units.

A lot is to be owed to the man at helm, director-general Ajay Mathur who for all this while was synonymous with the BEE. After eight years of service, Mathur has put in his papers to spearhead TERI. Currently, serving notice at BEE, Mathur will join TERI as its director-general on a government deputation announced on July 23.

"Since the very start, our goal has been to reach out to people and educate them about energy efficiency. The idea was to either give them energy efficient options or tools to choose energy efficient options. We gave them both," Mathur told Business Standard on the day of his resignation.

The energy management centre of the ministry of power was rechristened the BEE in 2001 with the enactment of the Energy Conservation Act. Anil Razdan, former power secretary, was joint secretary in the Union power ministry then. Till Mathur joined the BEE in 2006, Razdan steered it as its director.

As a full-time director-general, Mathur headed major programmes on energy efficiency. He took a year's break in 2012, but soon returned for a second five-year tenure, of which he has already completed two years.

Mathur's expertise in energy efficiency and green energy is well known in government and industry. Power Minister Piyush Goyal said at a recent conference he had handed the "reins of the government's energy efficiency plan to Mathur."

In the year Mathur joined the BEE, the National Energy Labelling Programme, or Star Rating scheme was launched for refrigerators, air-conditioners, water pumps, inverters and diesel gensets. The idea was to rate equipment on the basis of their energy consumption and enlighten consumers about it.

The BEE in 2013 launched tradable certificates for industries that achieved energy efficiency standards. Titled Perform, Achieve and Trade, the scheme was aimed at thermal power plants, cement, fertiliser, aluminium, iron and steel, and pulp and paper units. These industries were given targets for reducing energy consumption. Overachievement by a unit is converted into tradable Energy Savings Certificates. At the end of the target year, these units could sell the certificates to those that could not meet their targets.

"These sectors cover 65 per cent of industrial electricity consumption in the country. They now had tangible targets to achieve," said Mathur. The scheme will be extended to more sectors soon.

The BEE is also the agency implementing the LED promotion drive of the government. Through Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of all public sector power companies, LEDs are being procured en masse for sale at affordable rates.

"With an able captain like Mathur, the bureau has done a commendable job and it will be challenging for the government to find a worthy successor. The organisation for all these years had a vital role to play in maintaining energy efficiency standards across the board," said Razdan.

Mathur hints at shift of gears at the BEE with more policies coming in and new programmes being launched in the next two years.

On his new role, Mathur said, "I will still be working in the same circles. TERI, in all these years, has done some breakthrough work in raising awareness about climate change and energy consumption. It is a new challenge. Let us see how things shape up."