Even in small municipalities, some measures are put in place to contain expenses due to increases in gas and electricity, but in Soverzene there is a countertrend with regard to public lighting.
The municipal council, during the session a few days ago, in fact introduced savings measures that will be significant only as regards the opening hours of the municipal offices. While they will be more than anything else symbolic as regards the public lighting points given that the Municipality of Soverzene is one of the very few that has not recorded increases in the energy bill related to street lighting, thanks to a network of completely LED street lamps.
«In our resolution», explains Deputy Mayor Luca Balbinot who followed the issue, «as regards the savings on heating we have decided to close the municipal offices on Saturday morning. This obviously will bring savings and should not cause too much inconvenience to our citizens given that we are a small town and the municipal offices are still open until 7 pm by appointment to meet the needs of all working residents ».
It is then envisaged that some street lamps will be turned off in less frequented areas such as the lighthouses that illuminated the historic lookout tower or about twenty street lamps in the secondary path to access the cemetery.
«This is a symbolic choice», continues Balbinot, «there will not be a great saving but it was more a way of giving a signal to say that the Municipality avoids lighting non-priority areas. We are also studying to turn off some lights in the village park but first we have to make a technical assessment. The main point remains that we, as a municipality, have hardly been affected by the increases in light costs because we were among the first in the province to equip ourselves with fully LED lighting ».
«This was a far-sighted choice of the administrations that preceded us», concludes the deputy mayor of Soverzene, «and that we have completed. The complete use of LED lights has led to a saving of 40% compared to traditional lighting, thanks also to the technology of street lamps which at night, after 11pm, reduce the lighting capacity by 30%. The economic savings therefore completely absorbed the increases in energy costs that hit all the municipalities of Italy. In fact, we have not had major changes in spending compared to 2021 and therefore we are not forced to make drastic choices now such as the total shutdown of street lamps in important areas “.