The streetlights are on, but there is no-one home because it is the middle of the day and most residents are at work.
This problem was brought to the News’ attention for the umpteenth time and comes as no shock since residents from Krugersdorp possibly are facing yet another month of load shedding.
The News contacted Mogale City Local Municipality spokesperson Nkosana Zali for answers why some areas’ streetlights are burning during day time.
It would seem the saying applies here as Mogale City has a spokesperson (the lights are on) yet he is never available for comment (but no one is home).
Zali, as always, never responded to the News’ numerous requests for comment.
So the News decided to call a few experts in the field to weigh in on the issue. After contacting a number of electricians in and around Krugersdorp, the news has compiled a rough estimate of the power being wasted by our municipality.
Although the light bulbs used in streetlights may vary, the News used a common wattage bulb as the average.
If one streetlight uses a 125 watt bulb, it would amount to 0,125 kilowatts of electricity being used per hour.
As some lights burn for 24 hours a day, multiply 0,125 watts by 24 hours, which equals three kilowatts used per day per streetlight.
The same amount of kilowatts could be used to power a house’s lights with 10 energy-saving bulbs switched on for 24 hours.
The News also discovered that streetlights in a residential area are put up at 30 metre intervals from each other; roughly one streetlight per house.
Lets assume the streetlights burn for 24 hours, seven days a week, we could look at about 21 kilowatts used for one streetlight in a week’s time.
The News has received numerous calls about streetlights burning 24/7 in Quellerie Park, Rangeview, Kenmare and Mindalore. Please let us know if you are aware of how the municipality is wasting power by commenting in the box provided below.
