In September of 2021 Essential Energy trucks were routinely seen stopping at every streetlight in Blayney swapping out the old globes with new LED ones.
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And although there were a few teething problems along the way, the $409,208 investment by Blayney Shire Council, and implemented by Essential Energy, has already begun to pay dividends.
By replacing the 707 lights, energy usage has reduced from approximately 25,000 KWh in January of 2021 to 10,600 KWh in January of 2022, a saving of nearly $5,500.
Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson said that the result was impressive and that the next part of council's electricity strategy would be negotiating the contract for the next seven to ten years. Unlike in past years though, this time around some councils have their own generation plans in mind, and this is causing some problems.
"In the past the ten councils in the Central Joint Organisation go out together and organise a contract," he said. "Obviously there's a saving doing that and normally we're a part of that and we'd look at what numbers they came up with and lock in a low price for seven to ten years."
Blayney council's solar farm plan though means that at some stage during that contract council could potentially opt-out of it.
"We're only half way down the road in developing this solar farm," Cr Ferguson said. "It's at least two years away so if we opt-in to the contract we'll need it because the new contract starts January 1 2023.
"So we're putting it out here that we need it now, but in a couple of years we may be generating our own electricity so may opt-out."
With Cabonne Council also in the same situation with their plans for a solar farm, the situation in Blayney isn't unique.
Council has received expert advice that offers from the retailers will only be open for a period of one to two weeks, a timeframe that doesn't allow councillors to consider the tenders lodged.
At the March council meeting a decision was made to delegate the authority to execute the contracts for the supply of electricity to the general manager.
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