Why do council leave lights on outside

moremore

I see lights left on during the day time outside councils blocks of flat and estates, councils never seem to turn them off. Wounder who pays for this waste is the tax payer or the residents of the blocks of flats/estates. They do not seem to be solo lighting either.
Seems wrong when they are always telling people to save energy when they are such wasters.

zerog

moremore wrote: »

I see lights left on during the day time outside councils blocks of flat and estates, councils never seem to turn them off. Wounder who pays for this waste is the tax payer or the residents of the blocks of flats/estates. They do not seem to be solo lighting either.
Seems wrong when they are always telling people to save energy when they are such wasters.

This is true but actually lights don't use up a lot of energy.

matelodave

Lots of them do, and its our money they are wasting.

Ich_2

Faulty photocells or timeswitches?
Left on to prevent sabotage of exposed control gear to plunge the area into darkness by vandalism/criminal activity?

sheffield_lad

off topic ever so slightly but LED that's the future for both councils and homes. The difference in wattage is amazing.


Check out the range Ikea do which inc candle bulbs (clear), for £3 each. I have just replaced some GU10 50w bulbs with 3w versions 20,000 hrs live. Bargain again £3.

moremore

matelodave wrote: »

Lots of them do, and its our money they are wasting.

I have seen about 40 lights on outside their building today, I also have reported it many times last year but the lights are still even more this year. Lots of builders around too, surely their care taking staff would report it as well. Maybe tenants pay for it and that is why the council does not care.

fed_up_and_stressed

matelodave wrote: »

Lots of them do, and its our money they are wasting.

In our area council tenants pay a service charge to cover electricity in communal areas, so it is the tenants who pay rather than council tax payers.

However the lights outside a re light /movement activated so don't blast out constantly. Hallway lights do stay on overnight though but i don't care .. Im not paying the tenants do.

ic

Believe it or not, once upon a time it was cheaper to leave the lights on than to install even manual switches - never mind automatic light swiches. The cost of the cabling, switches and the time of installation just wasn't worth it. Now the problem is that to retrofit that gear can be equally expensive - and chances are the budget is tight and whatever there is is going on more critical repairs.

However, you might just be seeing a building that is on a fixed timer, and they haven't gotten round to adjusting it yet now the days are lighter.

moremore

ic wrote: »

Believe it or not, once upon a time it was cheaper to leave the lights on than to install even manual switches - never mind automatic light swiches. The cost of the cabling, switches and the time of installation just wasn't worth it. Now the problem is that to retrofit that gear can be equally expensive - and chances are the budget is tight and whatever there is is going on more critical repairs.

However, you might just be seeing a building that is on a fixed timer, and they haven't gotten round to adjusting it yet now the days are lighter.

The lights were on a walkways but some were on the outside of the buildings and were on all during the summer months last year. Instead of switching them off during the day they seem now to be leaving more on.

I find it difficult when they keep telling residents to save energy when they cannot be bother to switch the lights off outside building during the day time. I think it is a case of them telling us to do what I say and not what I do.

Buzby

They don't need to - street lighting is rarely metered, and the ELectricity Supply Company sets a block fee and the council pays it. Since it doesn't matter to the cost if it says on or off (the KWh rate stays the same, regardless).

moremore

It is not street lighting its lights outside their buildings, actually on building outside, would that be same as street lighting? If it is the electricity is charged as street lights then we all pay for it in our council tax.

Even if the KWh rate is the same and considering the council has a green policy surely they should turn off the lights during he daytime to save the planet.