Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: AUGUST 1, 2023
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: RAUL GODINEZ, INTERIM PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR PREPARED BY: STEPHEN BISE, CITY ENGINEER
SUBJECT: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON STREET LIGHT CONVERSION PILOT PROJECT
SUMMARY
Southern California Edison (SCE) has proposed a pilot project to convert one City-owned high-voltage series circuit to an SCE-owned system at no cost to the City.
RECOMMENDATION
Direct staff to coordinate with SCE to finalize pilot project agreement, design and implementation.
Authorize City Manager to execute Customer Owned Series Street Light System Purchase and Conversion to LS-1 Agreement once finalized.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
The advantage of this project is that it would potentially provide more reliable street lighting in this area and SCE would pick up the construction cost. The downside is that it would require overhead lines.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statement:
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
Reduction in service rate from an LS-2 rate to an LS-1 rate per light. The City will not incur any cost for new streetlight installation.
DISCUSSION
Communities across Southern California face the challenging prospect of replacing aging, high-voltage series street light systems. Regulated output transformers operate Series systems only manufactured by Specialty Transformer from Cedar City, Utah. The manufacturer will not renew or significantly repair the manufacturing equipment should something break or fail in their process given the declining market for these transformers. This leaves utilities and local governments with an imminent need to replace existing series street light circuits. Fullerton has approximately 3,000 streetlights on series circuits.
SCE has proposed a pilot project in Fullerton to replace the Lillie Street series light circuit consisting of 37 lights. SCE would construct a new SCE owned (LS-1) street light circuit to replace the existing and aging series streetlights in the Lillie Street area at no cost to the City of Fullerton.
SCE would manage and implement the conversion project and take ownership of the existing streetlights towards the end of the project to facilitate existing streetlight removal. The project could reduce the City monthly costs up to 40% for the impacted lights and would provide a new, modern street light system featuring LED fixtures. SCE would construct the new system with concrete (marbelite) streetlight poles with a single overhead conductor electrical feed. SCE would design the new system, working closely with Public Works staff, and construct the new system before the end of 2023. The project could expand in the future if both parties desire.
The City held a community meeting on July 25, 2023 to discuss the pilot project with the residents in the project area.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – PowerPoint Presentation
Attachment 2 – Location Map
Attachment 3 – Draft Agreement
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
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