A MILLION dollars is how much Mount Isa ratepayers pay for street lighting each year.
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That could be cut by more than half if Ergon Energy included Mount Isa in its trial of Light Emitting Diodes (LED) in regional Queensland.
The more effective technology has been installed in Townsville, Brisbane and Ipswich.
Deputy mayor Brett Peterson suggested in Wednesday’s full council meeting that the council should encourage trials in Mount Isa that could replace about 2500 lights suburb by suburb.
“It’s a hell of a lot less power than a normal bulb,” Cr Peterson said after the meeting.
But such a decision likely would not be of benefit to this year’s budget, which will be revealed on July 21.
“We can try and look at lowering our rates but perhaps will have to spend money in the short-term to lower rates in the long-term,” Cr Peterson said.
He said it was up to the council whether it wanted to spend the money on upgrading the lighting.
The council moved to discuss the matter further in its private workshop “as soon as possible”.
Chief executive officer Emilio Cianetti said Ergon’s trial with the lights showed “some issues” including vandalism, the lights’ intensity and whether they complied with Australian standards.
Cr Kim Coghlan said the council could make a report, but the decision rested with the company.
“It comes back to Ergon,” she said.
She questioned whether the company would be supportive of providing the technology in Mount Isa.
Ergon innovation engineer and project manager Jenny Gannon said the lighting was based on new technology, reduced the brightness of the sky in a built-up area, and used 50 to 70 per cent less electricity.
“There’s a growing expectation for local councils to reduce their energy bills and so the involvement by utilities in any movement toward a LED replacement program is inevitable,” Ms Gannon said.
“Ergon will be offering all councils the opportunity to participate in a state-wide LED trial later this year with a possible start date of January next year.”
She said the cost of replacing street lights was a “complicated issue” because a new type of globe might not be compatible with a type of streetlight pole, which meant it would be more expensive to upgrade them.
