Barnsley Council’s electricity bill down thanks to LED streetlights

In the 2019/20 financial year, the authority paid £1.15m to keep its streetlights on – which fell to £758,328 in 2021/22.

The cost to keep the lights on at the Town Hall is also down – from £86,015 in 2019/20 to £74,665 in 2021/22 – a decrease of 13 per cent.

BMB has bucked the trend at a time when costs are rising across the board, thanks to a move to LED streeghtlights across the borough.

Barnsley Council approved a £4.2 million programme of upgrades to street lights along main roads in the borough in 2019, and by March 2020, 7,000 lanterns had been upgraded.

Carbon emissions from streetlighting reduced by an estimated 80 per cent in the seven years to 2021 – enough to power 2,362 homes based on the UK average consumption.

A spokesperson for Barnsley Council told the local democracy reporting service: “We are waiting for details on the council’s energy usage and details of the government’s energy relief scheme to accurately determine the estimated energy cost for this year.

“Energy usage on street lighting has reduced significantly over the past few years following the move to LEDs.

“As part of the council’s energy and carbon reduction strategy in line with the Zero 40 pledge, we are looking at a number of options to reduce our energy usage further.”