About 2,600 city-owned street lights will get new LED lights later this year at a cost of $2.6 million that is expected to save the city approximately $230,000 a year in electricity costs.
The Kent City Council unanimously approved the project at its Tuesday meeting. Crews are expected to start work this summer on the six-month project to replace the lights.
Kent will receive an energy efficiency grant of $375,000 from the state Department of Commerce to help fund the project as well as a $445,000 rebate from Puget Sound Energy for the more efficient lights. LED lights use around one-third of the energy of the existing lights, and last for about 20 years.
To finance the project, the city will borrow $1 million from its sewerage operating fund, $800,000 from its self-insurance fund and $445,000 from the general fund under extra money set aside in a Strategic Investment fund.
“We will save at a minimum in 2015 dollars a total of $4.83 million,” Councilman Dennis Higgins said about the estimated annual savings in costs for 21 years. “This is a no-brainer. We’re not even taking into account the labor to change bulbs in the current equipment or changing out the current equipment which doesn’t last 30 years. This is a great project both from a fiscal point of view and an environmental point of view in the electricity we’re going to be saving.”
Once the rebate is received by the city, it will put that money back into the Strategic Investment fund, which is monies set aside for projects after the general fund budget hits its 10 percent annual savings amount.
That leaves the $1.8 million to be financed over nine years, paid back at 1.2 percent interest through the savings in the annual electric bill.
Kent has about 6,000 street lights. Besides the city-owned lights, the other lights are owned by Puget Sound Energy and other agencies and are not part of this project.
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