Highland Council given warning light
A massive hike in energy charges for street lights and aborted "switch-off" trials has seen Highland Council burst its budget by £770,000, it has emerged.
The authority has about 50,000 street lights in the region but a huge 148 per cent price increase through the national electricity supply in the last year has hit the cash-strapped authority.
And the financial pressure on its street lighting budget has been compounded because it failed to save cash by switching off street lights in communities after a public backlash.
Mr Neil Gillies, the authority's transport, environmental and community services (TECS) director, said it had worked hard to cut its energy consumption but the bill had partly risen because of new housing developments which required street lights.
"There has been an increase in the individual number of lights, that is mainly down to new developments," he said.
"There has been a 4 per cent increase in the number of units (street lights) but we have managed to reduce our energy usage by two per cent."
But Mr Gillies said it had been hit at the same time by the crippling charges via the network power connection which the council had no control over.
The increased power charges have partly come about because of a restructuring of the electricity charge, the TECS committee in Inverness was told at their latest meeting.
Councillor Graham Phillips, the TECS chairman, said the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities had taken up its case with the energy regulator Ofgem in London.
The local authority scrapped trials which turned off every second street light in communities last year after concerns were raised about road safety.
Boat of Garten was one of the the areas involved in the trials.
The unachieved savings have amounted to £188,000.
The council has also experimented with dimming and LED lights in a bid to cut its £2 million annual energy bill for street lights.
