“In some communities we are talking over 100 per cent increases in charges, and the Oberon community is facing  a proposed increase of 86 per cent. The information provided indicates that small communities will be hit the hardest,” Cr McMahon said.

With support from Local Government NSW, councils have banded together and sought specialist advice to try and get some common sense into the pricing review now underway.

“It’s particularly galling when street lights were part of the electricity asset strip in rural NSW. Communities used to own the electricity assets. Now people in regional NSW are being asked to pay even more and the state pockets the profits. It‘s not so much about paying an electricity bill as paying an electricity tax,” Cr McMahon said.

“This means millions of dollars to regional NSW, which is money that could be better spent elsewhere on high priority infrastructure projects such as roads and other community needs,” he said.

The technical review identified a number of substantive reasons to reject Essential Energy’s claims for a price rise. It found evidence suggesting that Essential Energy is not managing its street lighting maintenance and technology choices efficiently.

The utility has also been particularly slow to take up new more reliable, more energy efficient and lower cost lighting options such as LEDs.

Councils have called for the Australian Energy Regulator to reject Essential Energy’s proposal for dramatic price increases, and are calling for a complete review by Essential Energy of how it is managing the street lighting service.

“On one hand the State Government is proposing to sell the poles and wires, claiming that this will reduce costs,  and on the other hand the electricity provider is proposing extreme price rises. I cannot see how they can have it both ways” Cr McMahon said.