New company managing Swampscott light poles

SWAMPSCOTT – There has been some confusion among residents as to how to report outages or problems with street lights in town.That’s because the town has a new service provider for street lights located on wooden poles.Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said reporting problems with street lights on wooden poles should call 1-800-365-1691 or send an email to [email protected]. If there is a problem with a streetlight that is located on a metal pole residents should call 1-800-322-3223. Cresta noted before calling it is important to have the pole number, which is located on a metal tag on the pole itself.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor explained on July 1, 2005 the town acquired ownership of the 1,457 streetlights located on wood poles in town and contracted with Republic Electric to maintain the lights.The groundwork for the purchase was laid in 1997 when, as part of a larger effort to deregulate the electric industry, the Legislature gave municipalities the right to purchase streetlights, upon paying utility companies for its part of the original investment that had not been written off using the depreciation rates.Maylor said the town opted not to buy the 67 lights located on metal poles because it would not have been cost effective for the town.The three-year maintenance contract with Republic Electric expired earlier this year and the town put the contract out to bid. Maylor said Coviello Electric was awarded the maintenance contract for the lights this time around.”Purchasing the streetlights has saved the town between $35,000 and $40,000 a year,” he said. “When you purchase the light, National Grid is required to change its formula and that’s where the savings are. We’re paying less to illuminate the lights. The bid from Coviello Electric came in lower than what we were paying for maintenance so we should realize additional savings.”