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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> payback is ultimately for the City Council to decide. There would be no additional <br /> cost to establish sustainability design guidelines for capital projects and to <br /> assist Council in setting acceptable return on investment rate and payback <br /> periods. This would be the responsibility of the Assistant City Manager. <br /> <br /> Street Lighting Plan <br /> <br /> Street Light Decommissioning <br /> As detailed in previous reports to Council, Ameren-owned street lights have <br /> presented a dilemma for the City in gauging how to become more energy efficient. <br /> Currently, of the $850,000 electricity budget for the City in FY10, $640,000 is <br /> allocated just for Ameren-owned street lighting. There are 3264 utility-owned <br /> street lights are billed under the 5M rate. This does not include City owned lights or <br /> decorative street lighting. Because of the way these lights are billed (by pole and <br /> fixture type) and because they are not individually metered, the City could not <br /> determine how much energy is being used or how much could be saved through <br /> retrofitting these lights with more energy efficient fixtures. Thus, the only means <br /> available to ensure saving energy and costs, under the current rate/billing structure <br /> is to decommission lights. <br /> <br /> As the primary component of the federal stimulus funding under the Energy <br /> Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, the City intends to map all utility-owned <br /> street lights and then develop a plan to decommission 20% of them. The focus of <br /> the decommissioning will be on commercial areas such as Olive Blvd. and the Loop, <br /> where secondary lighting is in great abundance. Interns will map the lighting and <br /> funds from the grant will be used to remove the lighting. Additional funds will be <br /> used to provide public education about appropriate levels of street lighting and <br /> what exactly is to occur. The Assistant City Manager will supervise the process. A <br /> lighting expert will likely be needed to assist the City in prioritizing removal and to <br /> help educate the public on the optimum lighting levels for public safety. A lighting <br /> expert would help devise the Lighting Plan, including an energy efficiency <br /> component. The expert could evaluate the City-owned street lighting, provide a <br /> cost/benefit analysis of retrofit options, and provide an evaluation of available <br /> grant, incentive and financing options. The cost of a lighting expert is expected <br /> to cost approximately $10,000, which could be paid from the Energy Efficiency <br /> and Conservation Block Grant contingency funding. <br /> <br /> Street Lighting-Rate Challenge <br /> As Council is aware, the City (along with the Municipal League, the City of O'Fallon, <br /> City of Rock Hill and the City of St. Ann) has currently moved the Missouri Public <br /> Service Commission to intervene in the AmerenUE rate case. Ameren is seeking an <br /> 18% increase in electricity rates. Staff has done analysis of the rates that are being <br /> charged by Ameren for utility-owned street lights and discovered a great disparity <br /> between those cities that own their street lights and those who do not. If the City of <br /> University City owned its current 3264 utility owned street lights it could save over <br /> $470,000 per year in rate and pole rental charges. It is our goal to not only reduce <br /> 10 <br />