Regional Projects - August 2014
By: Regional Projects Officer, Daniela Gambotto...
Street lighting and Sustainability
We were fortunate to secure some time with Ergon Energy staff for this month's Street Lighting Group Meeting. It's always a great opportunity to catch up with the Ergon Energy guys to get the latest on street lighting, and of course to continue to build our relationship. Some of the key topics which came up in our discussions included the usual suspects...
• Tariff review – with the review of tariff structures complete and put in place for the 2014/15 financial year, we decided it was time to see if there were any savings to be made by changing tariffs. Ergon Energy took the account details for some of our region's biggest energy users and undertook a comparison of current and other tariffs to assist with identifying the most cost effective option. The comparison revealed that in some instances, facilities are already using the most cost effective tariff. However, there are most certainly opportunities for Councils to make substantial savings on high energy use facilities by simply changing the tariff being charged. At a quick glance, across the four council areas reviewed, savings of close to $200,000 annually have been identified as a result of this process. This information has been passed on to Councils' technical officers who will review and make the recommended changes accordingly. As advised by Ergon Energy staff, we will continue to monitor tariff pricing and will submit a review at least every 12 months to ensure we are always utilising the most cost effective tariff. Many thanks to Ergon Energy's tariff specialists who efficiently provided this advice at no extra charge to the FNQ councils.
• Street light audit – the audit of Ergon Energy's street lighting fleet is very close to completion. This has been a mammoth undertaking for Ergon Energy and timelines have blown out, however the data is very nearly complete. Soon Councils will have access to a new software package which will allow them to more adequately manage their street lighting fleet. There are still some minor ownership issues with DTMR to be sorted out, but the package is pretty much ready to roll. Another big thanks to Ergon Energy!
• Service Level Agreement (SLA) – unfortunately we are yet to see a draft of the long awaited SLA which we have been pressing for some time now. We understand the draft is very near to completion and will hopefully be able to view it shortly. Ergon Energy is on the verge of rolling out its Street Lighting Strategy and will be undertaking a road show with Councils over the coming month. It is anticipated that the SLA will be covered in this forum.