An audit of Canberra's street lights has found more than half are at least 30 years old while raising questions about government record keeping of the types of lighting in use around the city.
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The ACT government is pursuing plans to sell or outsource management of the network of more than 78,000 street lights, as part of revenue raising efforts and plans to achieve cheaper and more energy-efficient lighting.
Street lights currently account for 25 per cent of the government's electricity use and about 18 per cent of its total greenhouse gas emissions.
Power costs for the 2014-15 financial year topped $5.5 million, government data showed, with bills for a further $1.3 million received in the first quarter of 2015-16.
The most recent plans for sale or outsourcing of the lights, first flagged by Chief Minister Andrew Barr in the 2014-15 territory budget, prompted an audit by Ironbark Sustainability, undertaken between July and October this year.
It included a physical review of 2400 street lights and their corresponding data on a government asset register. The review said the register does not provide "highly accurate detail of the breakdown of lamp types and lantern types" currently in use and estimated inaccuracies of about 10 per cent across the network.
Information provided to the Legislative Assembly last month by Roads and Parking Minister Mick Gentleman showed the most common types of street lights were those using high pressure sodium and compact fluorescent light sources.
There were 78,056 street lights in use in the territory at the end of October, of which about 40 per cent are installed on arterial and major feeder roads.
About 77,300 street light columns are in use, of which 54,000 are steel, 17,000 concrete and 5000 are wood poles. The network relies on 4200 kilometres of underground cable and about 1200 controllers.
Newer LED technology is used on just 439 lights so far, all on minor roads.
The audit report said significant column age errors of more than a year were found in 9 per cent of the random sample and 18 per cent of the sample were more likely to contain further errors. It warned the lack of data about lantern age for the street light network could compromise the asset register's data and limit decision making about the condition of lights and when they should be replaced or decommissioned.
Analysis of street light age showed about 14,500 were between 30 and 50 years old.
Tender documents show potential maintenance contracts for street lights could see upgrades to asset registers using electronic record keeping and 24/7 emergency response as well as "proactive fault management" systems. At present each street light is inspected on a monthly basis and 90 per cent of faults are inspected and rectified within 10 working days.
Adding time and motion sensors as part of lighting upgrades would require clocks and sensing switches to be installed. A trial of timers and sensors is planned for a new greenfield suburb in Canberra, possibly Throsby.
Wi-fi management could also be used but the government is keeping its options open.
The tender documents state land and air underneath or around light columns are not included in the assets.
Mr Barr said this month the government would look at all options for sale or outsourcing the lights.
Selling could allow the ACT to cash in a further 15 per cent bonus from the federal government's "asset recycling" scheme, adding to public housing and government office block sales being used to help finance the city to Gungahlin tram line.
The closing date for expressions of interest for the street lights is January 14.
