That would save about $330,000 a year and provide a payback period of about six years.

There would be ongoing cost savings with the introduction of LED street lights for new development.

But more steps are required first.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, as a first step, must accept and execute a pricing agreement for LED lighting with Essential Energy before LED street lights can be installed.

The council has delegated authority to the general manager to accept and execute the pricing agreement.

The council will also investigate the financial implications of a bulk street lighting LED change-out including capital contribution costs and the payback period.

A report will come back to a council meeting.

Cr Peter Alley said this was a multi-stage process.

He spoke about the financial implications of swapping out of the existing street lights for LED lights.

“It will reduce the council’s overall electricity consumption by about 10 per cent and I think that’s pretty exciting,” he said.

LED street lights are considered a more efficient and cost effective technology.

A report to the June council meeting said Essential Energy owned and maintained 7690 street lights, as of December 2016, on behalf of the council as a public lighting customer.

Of those, 5583 lights could be upgraded to LED.

The council will pay more than $1.16 million for street light operation and maintenance this financial year.

That includes $475,000 in electricity costs.

“This represents a significant annual expenditure for the community,” the council report said.

“As more street lights are installed with every new residential subdivision, and as energy prices continue to increase, this significant cost will continue to rise.

“The use of more efficient lighting is one way to address this cost to the community.”

Meanwhile, the council has recently negotiated, along with 43 other councils, the pricing associated with the LED pricing agreement.

Essential Energy has provided a formal offer based on the negotiations.

An Essential Energy spokesperson said following successful trials of the technology, Essential Energy added LED streetlights to its standard materials listing for new installations and upgrades.

As LED lighting was not available at the start of the 2014-19 regulatory period, a regulated price for the service has not yet been set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

The spokesperson said councils were required to negotiate a pricing agreement before installing LED lights that formed part of Essential Energy’s public lighting inventory.

“To enable implementation of LED lighting across our network area, Essential Energy entered into a negotiating framework for the implementation of Street Light Use of System pricing for the LED technology with councils that wished to participate, or their representatives,” the spokesperson said.

Essential Energy has completed the negotiations and has formally offered all councils the opportunity to install the lights under a negotiated pricing arrangement.

This negotiated pricing will continue until the Australian Energy Regulator approves LED prices for the next regulatory determination, commencing July 1, 2019.