Rocky Mountain Power seeks franchise renewal, offers LED streetlight upgrades and small grants

Steve Lickty, a representative for Rocky Mountain Power, told the Mendon City Council the company is seeking renewal of its franchise agreement with the city and invited legal review and comment from the city attorney.

Lickty said he provided the city recorder with a template and the original agreement for review. He asked the council to allow the city attorney to review any proposed edits with Rocky Mountain Power before finalizing changes. The council directed staff to forward the draft agreement to attorney Seth Tate for review.

Lickty also discussed a voluntary LED streetlight-conversion program. He described conversion from older high-pressure sodium fixtures to LED as optional for municipalities; under the program the city would make an upfront capital contribution to convert fixtures, then the utility would place the lights on an LED rate that reduces energy costs to about one-third of current energy charges. He said typical payback on the city's initial investment has ranged about two to four years, and that many valley communities have completed similar conversions.

"We're trying to convert systems over to LED...we shift you guys to an LED rate, which is about a third the cost for the energy," Lickty said.

Lickty said the company recommends a 3,000K color temperature for most municipal conversions to reduce complaints about brightness; 4,000K is brighter and can prompt resident concerns.

He also noted the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation accepts small grant applications through five annual cycles for projects including STEM, arts and culture, health and safety and small capital needs. Grant awards are typically in the $2,000–$10,000 range, Lickty said.

Ending: Council instructed staff to send the franchise draft to the city attorney for review and asked public-works and engineering staff to pursue LED-conversion estimates for the city's streetlights.