Selectmen Approve $408K to Buy 843 Street Light Fixtures from Eversource

Selectmen Plan to Buy Street Lights from Eversource, But Want a Price & ‘Audit’ First

New Tech May Mean Darien Street Lights Cost Less, Do Much More

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | May 16, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | February 1, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | August 4, 2015

The Darien Board of Selectmen approved spending $408,282 to buy 843 street light fixtures from Eversource and then replace them with LED lights — an investment that’s estimated to pay for itself in less than three years and thereafter save the town on electricity bills. The town has already appropriated $16,000 for a consulting company, Tanko, to conduct an “audit” of the street lights to make sure the 843 count is correct and to find out additional information about the lights. Work on the audit will start if the Board of Finance approves the request Tuesday night. The Finance Board’s agenda lists the transfer as a “contingency transfer” — a transfer from the town’s contingency fund — so approval from the Representative Town Meeting wouldn’t be needed. In addition to future energy savings, the town would get an estimated rebate of about $85,000 from Eversource once the audit is done and the sale is completed.

Town officials expect to buy the 862 street lights in town from Eversource and hire Tanko Lighting Inc. of San Francisco to change them to LED lighting, a change they expect to save money, save energy, provide for better lighting and perhaps other improvements. The town is asking Eversource for a firm price on the street lights, along with 11 poles, which it expects to get in three or four weeks. Eversource previously gave the town a price, which has since expired, Public Works Director Ed Gentile told the Board of Selectmen on Monday night. The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to approve a $16,000 expenditure to hire Tanko to conduct a survey of the lights in preparation for buying them. The total cost of buying the street lights and replacing the high-pressure sodium bulbs to various kinds of LED lights is expected to be about $380,000.

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Imagine Darien’s street lights needing less maintenance, using less electricity, costing less, providing better light and maybe doing something more — like helping provide WiFi service to cars. That could happen in a few years with a combination of recent LED lighting technology, Internet technology, state regulations allowing towns to buy light fixtures from Eversource, and utility rebates for upgrading equipment — all of which is now available to Darien. Oh, one more thing — the town or even first responders in an emergency could adjust a street light if, say, more lighting was needed at an accident scene. Or the town could make a lighting adjustment at one particular street light if it was bothering a neighborhood. All these possibilities were brought up in a presentation Monday to the Board of Selectmen by Jack Hanley from ESCO Energy Services Company, a business that advises clients in ways to save money by adopting energy-efficient systems, and then helping to run them.