Fade to black: Gisborne’s faulty street lights problem

A report shows 10% of the city's urban street lights have gone out. District council staff say the issue lies with a faulty batch of LED lights received from NZ Transport Agency, and the council is pursuing a warranty claim. Photo / Zita Campbell / NZME

Faulty street lights are plunging parts of Gisborne into darkness and causing “major problems” for the district council.

Councillors shone a light on the issue during an operations meeting last Thursday.

Councillor Rob Telfer said he counted 59 street lights out during a drive from Makaraka to Riverside Rd a few months ago.

“I drove back there the other night and there’s actually more. There’s 62 not working.”

A council report from August 1 said 10% of the council’s urban street light network was not operating.

Telfer pointed out the report said the street light contractor was delivering on its requirements within its “contract scope”.

“I would question what that level is? Why do we have a huge part of our city network not working? Some parts of town are quite dark at the moment.”

A council spokeswoman said the problem lay with faulty LED lights and the council was pursuing a warranty claim with the original hardware supplier.

The street light contractor is not responsible for the performance of the LED as that was procured outside their contract, she said.

“We’re working through a plan to resolve those issues,” she said.

This includes a warranty plan, looking to obtain new hardware, alongside understanding the commercial risks associated with progressing the warranty claim and purchasing new lights.

Councillor Colin Alder asked if other areas were experiencing a similar issue and whether they had bought the same bulbs.

Council director of community lifelines Tim Barry confirmed other areas had the same challenges.

The faulty batch was brought in partnership with NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), he said.

“So when you lean on large entities and expect good results, this is proof that it doesn’t always happen.”

The council was taking care ordering the next batch of lights, including looking at the track record of existing bulbs and noting their warranty.

“A larger cost is actually taking the failed item down and then putting it back up again, than the actual purchase itself.”

Councillor Larry Foster said when LED lights came in they were supposed to be the saviour for councils to offset costs as they were “cost-effective and last a lot longer”.

“And now here we are with major problems.”

During an August 1 meeting, Mayor Rehette Stoltz said people had been raising concerns about street lights since Covid.

“I know during Covid there was a dud delivery of lights that arrived and there were issues with lights not arriving in time. As you drive around town it is very visible and also a safety issue.”

At Thursday’s meeting, a council spokeswoman said she would come back with a timeline for resolving the street light warranty issue.

Gisborne is not the first council to experience issues with the LED lights.

Wellington City Council completed fixing 17,000 LED light adapters in February following a batch that had been installed in 2018.

The council found out last year the adapters were not designed to withstand Wellington’s windy conditions and reports showed they were deteriorating over time.

An NZTA spokesperson told Local Democracy Reporting the Gisborne street lights affected were bought between 2016 and 2019 in partnership with the council.

They said the manufacturer’s warranty period had covered the replacement of the faulty parts in many street lights.

The fault was due to a small component, the luminaire, which caused the streetlights to malfunction.

“The typical life expectancy of these street lights is 20 years.”