On our pages, we have addressed several times the issue of pitch darkness at the new roundabout near Łaziska. At the end of April, the head of the Lower Silesian Roads and Railways Service Leszek Loch wrote to us directly:
To this day, [czyli do 25 kwietnia – przyp. istotne.pl] the Bolesławiec municipality has not signed an agreement (road lighting is the municipality’s own responsibility—as provided by law).
We do not know the reasons for the municipality’s inaction in this regard. Please direct your question to the Head of the Bolesławiec Municipality.
We sent this question to the municipality on 26 April. We received a response on 14 May. The head of the Investment and Infrastructure Department at the Bolesławiec Municipal Office, Romuald Ochyra:
In response to your inquiry, the municipality informs you that it is aware of its statutory responsibilities regarding the lighting of public roads and is by no means avoiding assuming the costs associated with operating the lighting at the roundabout in Łaziska (along provincial road no. 297), built by DSDiK in Wrocław.
The only problem is that the Investor (DSDiK in Wrocław), as part of handing over the facility, also expects the municipality to accept the entire infrastructure connected with its construction, in particular the transformer built there specifically for the needs of this roundabout. I would point out that, to date, the road-lighting equipment has not been handed over to the Bolesławiec municipality. Nor do we possess as-built documentation—the municipality was not the investor, but rather the road owner, namely DSDiK in Wrocław. Regardless of the above, on 19 March 2019 the Bolesławiec municipality already submitted an application to enter into an agreement for the distribution of electricity with TAURON Dystrybucja S.A. (DSO). On 3 April 2019, we received a proposal for such an agreement, except that it specified tariff group B11. This tariff is not included in our currently applicable agreement, concluded through an unrestricted tender, with the electricity supplier (PGE Obrót S.A. Rzeszów).
In this situation, we cannot sign an annex to the agreement with PGE. Currently, we settle the costs of road lighting in the Bolesławiec municipality under tariff C12b, at the net unit rate established in the tender of PLN 0.1974/kWh. If we were to conclude an agreement with Tauron now, the only option would be a comprehensive agreement at a rate exceeding PLN 0.34/kWh.
Based on a unilateral site inspection, we determined that the facility does not meet the standards of the road-lighting projects implemented by the Bolesławiec municipality for several years. We implement all our new outdoor lighting points, including road lighting, using energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technology (reducing CO2 emissions), i.e. LED fixtures (approximately 40% of the electricity costs of the sodium fixtures used). The site inspection confirmed that the roundabout lighting is based on 31 installed sodium fixtures (probably 150 W each). None of the documents provided to us by DSDiK indicated what type of fixtures had been installed or the power of the installed light source. Although outdated, energy-intensive technology was used from the outset, the Bolesławiec municipality took steps to conclude an electricity-distribution agreement before the facility was handed over to it.
The B11 tariff proposed to us by TAURON Dystrybucja S.A. is intended for large enterprises. Tariff B11 means that the facility uses medium voltage, with no division into day and night tariffs (the equivalent of C12b—low voltage). From discussions with TAURON representatives, it follows that, together with the road-lighting points, we would also have to take over the transformer substation that was built. Meanwhile, the municipality’s responsibilities concern the lighting itself, not all the infrastructure associated with it. The transformer is not part of the lighting. Moreover, the municipality does not have its own qualified specialists to operate medium-voltage equipment, so taking it over would necessitate either permanently employing such a person or incurring costs by commissioning an external company to maintain the transformer. Agreeing to such a solution, imposed on us in advance by the contractor, would therefore constitute an unnecessary waste of the municipality’s residents’ money—and perhaps even a breach of financial-discipline rules. It would also be disadvantageous because having a transformer under the medium-voltage tariff (B11) limits the possibility of including electricity supplies to this point in the tenders regularly organized by the municipality, through which the municipality purchases electricity more cheaply. It would probably also be necessary to adapt the meter installed by TAURON (under such a distribution agreement) to enable remote reading of the amount of energy consumed, which would entail additional costs for the municipality.
Therefore, we consistently maintain that the transformer should become Tauron’s property and be maintained by Tauron, just like all other transformers located within the municipality and serving an analogous purpose.
It should be noted that the Bolesławiec municipality agreed only on the site plan connected with the planned route of the reconstructed provincial road no. 297 (March 2010). It did not review or approve the design solutions themselves. The building and executive design was prepared in June 2011. The conditions for connecting the road-lighting facility in the intersection area (the roundabout in Łaziska) to the electricity grid were issued on 30 November 2010, i.e. later than the date of the Bolesławiec municipality’s decision approving the site plan for the reconstructed provincial road (March 2010). The Investor (DSDiK in Wrocław) never informed the Bolesławiec municipality that it would be required to take over the facility of the transformer substation that had been built. Nor were any technical details agreed with us, which is why, among other things, the lighting was built using what is now outdated sodium-lamp technology instead of modern LED lighting. We learned unofficially that, during construction of the roundabout lighting facility, the subcontractor requested that the installed fixtures be changed to LED fixtures, arguing that the additional cost would be small—around PLN 200 for each replaced fixture. Unfortunately, the request was not taken into account. We are now being confronted with a fait accompli and pressured to accept something to which we neither committed ourselves nor which follows from the law.
The head of the Investment and Infrastructure Department adds:
We declare that we will sign all the documents immediately after the matter has been clarified with DSDiK and Tauron Dystrybucja and the terms of the municipality’s obligation to bear only the costs of lighting the roundabout have been established—that is, once we are offered a settlement system based on tariff C12b, under which the other lighting points located in the Bolesławiec municipality are settled.
What do you think? We invite you to discuss.