The Western Australian Local Government (WALGA) has welcomed commitments made by the State Government to clarify street lighting tariff changes and introduce a more transparent billing process.

 

WALGA President Troy Pickard said that the 30 per cent increase had left some of the state’s councils struggling to incorporate the significant increase to expenditures.

 

“Councils were placed in a difficult position and some had to consider drastic measures by which to minimise the impact of these tariff increases, such as deferring essential maintenance and scaling back other services to the community,” Mayor Pickard said.

 

“Local Governments have virtually no control over street lighting expenditure as the assets are controlled by Western Power and energy supplied through Synergy; and Councils have found that they have no option but to pay the higher charges set by the Government over the past three years.” 

 

Energy supplier Synergy has committed to work with WALGA to determine the type of information that can be provided to assist councils in better budgeting for increases to lighting tariffs.

 

Other commitments discussed at the meeting with the State Government included:

  • a working group to be formed to suggest appropriate arrangements to enable street lighting to be contestable and other suppliers encouraged to enter the market and to consider trials of dimming and switching technology on Local Government owned networks, and
  • investigation of opportunities to accelerate investment in energy efficient technology.

 

“Street lighting represents a significant line item in many Council budgets and unexpected changes can have a huge impact upon our operations,” Mayor Pickard said.

 

“These commitments will provide Local Government with information to assist in our planning and budgeting processes, as well as identify and action areas in which we can reduce our electricity consumption.”