Modi govt faces heat over ‘one nation, one AC temperature' proposal
'One nation, one temperature' and other hashtags are gaining ground on social media. The timing of the announcement—it was made as Delhi reels under extreme heat—has also been criticised.
It has pitted the 'greater good' of energy conservation against the consumer's right to choose.
New Delhi: Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's proposal to regulate AC temperatures so that they don't go below 20 degrees celsius has been met with backlash by citizens worried that the government is interfering a little too much.
'Everyone has unique cooling needs—how can they enforce a one-size-fits-all rule? Those on higher floors often need lower temperatures; are they supposed to install multiple ACs just to stay comfortable?' one X user complained.
Why is the government meddling in my choice to set my AC to 16°C? Everyone has unique cooling needs—how can they enforce a one-size-fits-all rule? Those on higher floors often need lower temperatures; are they supposed to install multiple ACs just to stay comfortable? https://t.co/uleAL2XFEW
— Arpit Marwah (@arpitmarwah93) June 10, 2025
New air conditioners in the Indian market will soon not go below 20℃, Khattar said Tuesday, referring to a 'new provision' which he said would be 'implemented soon'.
He pitched it as a bid to bring energy efficiency in the $3 billion AC market in the country.
'The temperature should be between 20℃ to 28℃ for all ACs, according to these new regulations,' said Khattar in a press conference. 'I don't think any of us even use the AC at temperatures below 20℃,' he added.
If the government has its way, 'temperature standardisation' norms will apply to new AC units for malls, homes and cars that are manufactured and sold after this proposal comes into effect. For the regulation to be implemented and communicated to manufacturers, it will take around three to four months, according to former government officials.
Many citizens have raised concerns about what they see as the government infringing upon their choices as customers. Others argued that in the backdrop of rising temperatures, the government should be working to make ACs more accessible for consumers, rather than bringing in 'first-world' policies to the country.
Ideally they should make ACs accessible to masses by reducing the GST. But, a third world country wants to bring the first world policies for some tokenism. https://t.co/CpSXLWIGx5
— Sandesh Samant – संदेश सामंत (@sandesh_samant) June 10, 2025
'What next, cars that can't drive below twenty kph and above 60 kph,' remarked Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde on X.
What next, cars that can't drive below twenty kph and above 60 kph. https://t.co/P0zFKldxGj
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) June 11, 2025
However, industry officials and energy experts ThePrint spoke to say they believe that this change in regulation will be good for long-term energy efficiency, while also reducing the electricity bills of consumers.
According to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, even raising the AC temperature by 1℃ can reduce electricity consumption by 6 percent. Any increase in AC temperatures could therefore reflect in both reduced energy consumption and reduced electricity bills.
Shalu Agrawal, director of programmes at the New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) sees this proposal as a great opportunity.
'Even a modest shift from 18°C to 20°C can cut AC energy use by 12 percent,' said Agrawal. 'If just 30 percent of new buyers (~5 million) adopt this change, it could save 1.4 billion units of electricity annually—enough to power 10–14 million homes for a month,' she added, quoting a 2020 CEEW study.
Also Read: Sizzling heat, humidity & high power demand lead to spike in AC blasts and how you can avoid them
How it will be implemented
While the Union Ministry of Power has not yet released a document outlining how this regulation will be carried out and a timeline for the same, former government officials said implementation should not be too big a challenge. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the nodal body that handles the star-rating system for appliances, already has a compliance mechanism in place for ACs, fridges, and other devices that fail to comply with the government's energy efficiency standards.
'There's already an agency like the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in place, which regularly coordinates with AC manufacturers for their star-rating system,' said Alok Kumar, former secretary to the Government of India for the Ministry of Power. 'My guess is that this regulation will be routed through them too and shouldn't be too much trouble.'
'For manufacturers, it will be a small change in the software, to just reduce the limits of the temperatures from 18-30℃ to the new 20-28℃,' explained Ajay Mathur, former director-general of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. 'The only issue will be the timeline of implementation and coordinating with both Indian and overseas manufacturers, but it shouldn't take more than a few months.'
As for an impact on Indian consumers, experts are confident that there will be no price change in ACs after this new regulation.
'Compliance is expected to be easy because it is just tweaking the operating temperature range of the appliance,' said Shyamasis Das, a fellow at the New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress. 'This neither warrants technological improvement nor impacts the cost of manufacturing or sale,' he added.
Even AC traders welcomed the government's proposal, citing how this will reduce wasteful energy consumption by consumers.
'People keep the AC at 16-17℃ because they can, not realising the impact it has on the energy usage. Even if you keep it at 20℃, the cooling will be the same, and it will be more sustainable,' said Rajeev Agrawal, an electronics trader in Daryaganj, Delhi. 'If people don't reduce wasteful energy consumption, the government should do it. It's a great move!'
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Voltas mascot Murthy never clicked. His broken Hindi isn't cute anymore
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