LED street light (Submitted photo/B.C. Hydro)

By Kevin Rothwell

Street light plan draws fire

Vernon ready to battle over proposed B.C. Hydro rate hike

Feb 26, 2021 | 5:30 AM

The City of Vernon is seeking intervener status at the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC), as B.C. Hydro argues it needs to be compensated for replacing older street lighting systems with LED lights.

The LED lights use substantially less energy than existing high pressure sodium.

Hydro plans a phased replacement of 95,000 street lights across the province over the next three years. Some are owned by local governments and First Nations, others by are owned by B.C. Hydro.

Most are unmetered, so the utility charges are per pole regardless of power use. Municipalities that have switched on their own to LED are still being charged the same rate, even though the cost of power used is lower.

Vernon has embarked on a replacement plan that would result in the conversion being paid off in eight and a half years based on less maintenance and power cost savings of $100,000 per year.

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“B.C.Hydro has decided that because their existing lights have not finished their life and because LED lights are so much more efficient and so much better, they are going to charge everybody until they have fully depreciated the poorly working lights,” Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming fumed.

Vernon is prepared to pay the cost of intervening with the BCUC and is encouraging other municipalities and the Union of B.C. Municipalities to join the fight.

“While LEDs are more energy-efficient than high-pressure sodium street lights and require less maintenance, converting all street lights in the province to meet federal regulations does have significant costs. This means the energy and maintenance savings associated with LEDs will be offset by the associated capital costs of buying and installing the LEDs. As a result, we’ll be applying to BC Utilities Commission for a new streetlight rate to recover the costs associated with removing existing street lights prior to their end-of-life and before they are paid off.” Hydro posted on its website.

The Regional District of the North Okanagan (RDNO) is lending its support and will ask other local governments to do the same.

“What I’m seeing here is them (B.C. Hydro) continuing down the path that running street lights is getting more expensive, when its actually getting cheaper,” Cumming told a RDNO budget meeting this week.