Assemblymember James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) announce legislation that empowers a municipality to acquire ownership of its streetlights and upgrade them with energy efficient and cost-saving LED lighting technology. The “Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act” is a response to NYSERDA’s recent report (“Street Lighting in New York State: Opportunities and Challenges”), which said if municipalities across the state owned and then upgraded their streetlights with LED technology, municipalities could achieve a savings of nearly $100 million on annual street lighting costs.
Original Title
Brennan, Fahy announce legislation to modernize streetlights throughout the state
Assemblymember James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) announce legislation that empowers a municipality to acquire ownership of its streetlights and upgrade them with energy efficient and cost-saving LED lighting technology. The “Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act” is a response to NYSERDA’s recent report (“Street Lighting in New York State: Opportunities and Challenges”), which said if municipalities across the state owned and then upgraded their streetlights with LED technology, municipalities could achieve a savings of nearly $100 million on annual street lighting costs.
Assemblymember James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) announce legislation that empowers a municipality to acquire ownership of its streetlights and upgrade them with energy efficient and cost-saving LED lighting technology. The “Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act” is a response to NYSERDA’s recent report (“Street Lighting in New York State: Opportunities and Challenges”), which said if municipalities across the state owned and then upgraded their streetlights with LED technology, municipalities could achieve a savings of nearly $100 million on annual street lighting costs.
Assembly District Albany, Bethlehem, Guilderland, New Scotland
For Immediate Release
February 24, 2015
BRENNAN, FAHY ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO MODERNIZE
STREETLIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND SAVE MUNCIPALITIES NEARLY $100 MILLION Brennans Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act Would Enable Municipalities To Modernize Streetlights With LED Lighting Technology And Create Significant Savings ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 24, 2015) --- Assemblymember James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) announce legislation that empowers a municipality to acquire ownership of its streetlights and upgrade them with energy efficient and cost-saving LED lighting technology. The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act is a response to NYSERDAs recent report (Street Lighting in New York State: Opportunities and Challenges), which said if municipalities across the state owned and then upgraded their streetlights with LED technology, municipalities could achieve a savings of nearly $100 million on annual street lighting costs. According to the NYSERDA report, outside of New York City, approximately 74% of streetlights are utility owned and the report identified lack of municipal ownership of streetlights as a major impediment to upgrading streetlights with LED technology. The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act is a common sense proposal that would be a win-win-win for municipalities, taxpayers, and the environment said Assemblymember Brennan. After completing a LED streetlight upgrade, a municipality and its taxpayers would see significant savings and environmentally, LED technology is energy efficient and has a much longer lifespan than current street lighting technology. At a time when municipalities are stretched thinsome running huge deficits and facing fiscal insolvencyevery dollar saved matters, and I commend my colleague, Assemblyman Brennan, for introducing a common sense initiative such as the Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act that will enable localities to save money through streetlight ownership while upgrading lighting using energy efficient technology, said Assemblymember Patricia Fahy. The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act, A.5356 (Brennan, Fahy) would: + authorize a municipality to assume ownership rights of its streetlights and contract to have its streetlights upgraded with LED technology; + allow a municipality to manage streetlight maintenance directly or to competitively bid for maintenance; + create a less costly electric rate, that would be developed in consultation between the Department of Public Service and the utility, where a municipality would pay for the electricity used by energy efficient LED streetlights and not for streetlight maintenance; + create a purchase price for the transaction between the utility and municipality based on the book value of the streetlights; and, + authorize the Public Service Commission to resolve any dispute in the transaction between a utility and the municipality, allowing for a more orderly and timely transaction. ###