Southern California Edison presents LED streetlight replacement plan; council to review contract authorization in February

Southern California Edison (SCE) representatives on Wednesday presented an overview of the utility's LED streetlight replacement program and answered council questions on color temperature, energy savings and implementation steps.

SCE described three color-temperature options (2,700K, 3,000K and 4,000K), recommended GE Profile fixture models and said the county has broadly adopted 2,700K for county-accounted lights. The company said LED fixtures improve color rendering (reported CRI 85'90 vs. 48—2 for high-pressure sodium), reduce energy bills and concentrate light on the roadway to reduce light trespass.

SCE representative (identified in the meeting as John King) told the council that Agoura Hills has 21 lights on the city's account while Los Angeles County accounts for about 1,972 lights within city boundaries; the county would decide color temperature for county-accounted fixtures unless the city requests otherwise. SCE estimated current near-term savings to the city of just under $1,800 annually for the 21 lights; a modest per-light payment recovery mechanism would collect installation costs over 20 years and then full energy savings would accrue.

Council members asked about community aesthetics, the role of the Land Use and Economic Development Committee (which has previously studied lighting and sign ordinances), impacts to private security cameras, and how the city and county would coordinate across account boundaries. SCE said the company prefers a community decision on color temperature (the city chooses the color for city account fixtures and the county typically defers to the city), and that the county generally uses 2,700K on county-accounted lights.

SCE said its next step is to work with staff to identify a small set of locally visible replacement fixtures that council members and the public can inspect; staff and SCE agreed SCE will return in February with the two-page contract authorization document for council consideration. The council did not take a binding vote on the contract at the Jan. 22 meeting; staff said the item will return for formal action in February after committee review and public inspection of representative fixtures.

Councilmember Deborah Klein Lopez asked that the Land Use and Economic Development Committee (LUEDC) and public works subcommittee review the proposal and that staff incorporate prior LUEDC work on sign and lighting standards into the evaluation. Several councilmembers also asked staff to provide an example of typical tariffs and the expected per-light recovery charge breakdown.

SCE also responded to elected officials' frustration about some company representatives not attending the meeting due to wildfire activity elsewhere; the SCE representative said company public-affairs staff had been activated for incident response and he would convey the council's comments to them.

SCE and staff said they will coordinate to bring back a package for council consideration in February that will include a proposed contract, sample fixtures and clearer cost-recovery numbers; the council asked for an outreach presentation to allow committee members and interested residents to view representative fixtures before formal authorization.