City pays Entergy a monthly light fee

HOT SPRINGS — The city’s 2017 Street Fund budget includes $550,000 for streetlights and signals that pay the monthly fee Entergy Arkansas assesses on each of the 6,000 lights over more than 300 miles of city-maintained streets.

Jim Garland, Entergy’s regional customer service manager, said the utility assesses the per-unit fee on operating and nonoperating lights alike.

“The customer is responsible for notifying Entergy if their security/streetlight is not working,” he said. “Our normal timeline for repairing outdoor lighting is three workdays. In that situation, we would not prorate the monthly charge assessed for the light.

“If for some reason, the repair took a month or more, then an adjustment to the billing would be considered.”

Hot Springs Public Works Director Denny McPhate said the city does not maintain an active count of nonoperating lights.

“I don’t have a way of knowing the number not working,” he said, adding that the city doesn’t have the workers to take a regular inventory of nonoperating lights. “Occasionally, we will authorize overtime for someone to come in at night if we have a report of multiple lights out at a particular location.”

Garland said smart-lighting technology that can autonomously report failures is being studied as part of the utility’s smart-grid modernization plan. In the interim, Entergy has to rely on the public and on audits its employees perform several times a year while driving at night on some of the more heavily traveled streets in the city.