Parish council's energy saving idea halted due to costs (From Bucks Free Press)

Penn parish council's energy saving idea halted due to costs

9:00am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Wycombe district By Rebecca Cain

Parish council's energy saving idea halted due to costs

A PARISH council has decided not to go ahead with an energy saving scheme due to the costs charged by an electricity company.

Penn Parish Council was considering turning the lights off at midnight along Penn Road from Hazlemere and asked Southern Electric for a quote.

The energy company said it would cost £7,000 to change the timings on the lights, but the estimated energy savings a year would be £1,000.

Chairman of the parish council, Maureen Seymour, said: "We talked about the lights being turned off at midnight. But it is not cost effective. It would take us seven years to recuperate what it cost us to change the lights."

She added the council hoped the move would save energy and also public money but would not have gone ahead without a consultation.

Spokesman for Southern Electric, Sharon Miller McKenzie, said the work is quite complex.

She said the quote is for work on 137 lights, which is not a flick of a switch, and added: "It involves work being done on each individual unit in order to change the times."