Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office (SEMREO)
| Number of Lights Committed | Electricity Savings kWh/yr) | Value of Electricity Saved ($/yr) | Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reductions (metric tonnes/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70,000 | 24,395,000 | $2,610,265 | 17,150 |
Program Description
SEMREO was founded in 2007 to help cities share resources and expertise to help each other save energy. Since then it has grown from five founding cities to 26 participating communities covering a total population of more than 1.8 million. The Southeast Michigan Regional Municipal Street Lighting Consortium is a recent SEMREO initiative that aims to upgrade all public streetlights to LEDs throughout the Detroit metropolitan region by 2020.
Service Area
The Detroit metropolitan region.
Situation Highlights
In 2015, the Michigan Street Lighting Coalition was formed to intervene in Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) case U-17767 that was brought by DTE, proposing a permanent increase in street lighting tariffs. This rate increase would serve to make LEDs more expensive than the HPS fixtures they were replacing in the sizes most commonly used for street lighting. At the same time, some of the existing rates for HPS technology were reduced.
The outcomes from the hearing on the intervention concluded that the utility’s proposed rates were not cost-based and were not transparent in terms of how they were developed; that the Cost In Aid of Construction (CIAC) contributions were not being credited in the monthly rates proposed; and that the improvements in maintenance expected from LEDs were not being recognized.