Suburbs can broaden their street-lighting horizons

In these times of growing concern about energy consumption, its cost and its impact on the environment, Twin Cities suburbs are being urged to look beyond street-lighting options offered by Xcel Energy to find new and more efficient lighting solutions.

A new study on municipal street-lighting suggests that suburbs start planning now to replace aging lights over the next few years and that they consider companies other than Xcel Energy to do the work.

Although utility regulations require that the cities buy electric power from Xcel, the energy company does not have a monopoly on the sale of poles, lights and maintenance services. Nevertheless, Xcel provides and maintains most of the streetlights in the metro area under 25-year contracts.

Xcel Energy's manager of outdoor lighting, Bob Schommer, said the company plans to stay in the street-lighting business and would like to renew current contracts with new 25-year agreements. Cities can count on Xcel to be around for the long term, he said.

But a report prepared for the Suburban Rate Authority -- an alliance that represents 31 Twin Cities suburbs -- says cities should consider alternatives to current street-lighting and maintenance services provided by Xcel Energy.

"Several new lighting technologies are emerging and merit consideration for improved quality of light, decreased frequency of outages and energy efficiency," the report says.

The Rate Authority is urging cities to get more involved in managing their streetlight systems, saying that if they rely on Xcel to do it all, they cannot expect the best service.

If cities are prepared for light replacement, there are readily available alternatives to Xcel service that they can consider, the report says. "Today multiple alternative lighting providers are in business, anxious to enter the regional municipal market ... The current lighting choice -- high-pressure sodium -- soon will eclipsed by new white light choices offering better light quality, more energy efficiency and lower mercury content than high-pressure sodium."

When the Rate Authority was gathering information for the study, private companies provided more details about their services than Xcel has provided, Eden Prairie Public Works Director Gene Dietz said.

"They would be able to articulate in detail: 'We are going to change the bulbs every three years; we are going to do this and do that,"' Dietz said. In contrast, Xcel provides little specific service information, Dietz said.