Replacement of faulty street lights under way

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A defective batch of lights purchased in 2017 and 2018 is why scores of the city's street lights are not working.

Gisborne District Council has 80 street lights that are faulty and the problem may not be rectified until after winter, GDC journeys infrastructure manager Dave Hadfield said.

Staff and contractors had identified why the lights have failed.

“An LED luminaire light has a ‘driver' inside it which is basically the brains of the unit. It is the driver in some of these units which has failed.”

Mr Hadfield said the supplier, Advanced Lighting Technologies, has honoured its 10-year warranty and started delivering replacement parts to Gisborne at its own cost.

“Unfortunately, the process has become quite drawn out due to both the drivers faulting over a long period of time and the extended time it's taking to get parts to make new drivers and have them shipped to New Zealand,” Mr Hadfield said.

So far, around 25 percent of the drivers, or 162 lights, have been affected and these were replaced when parts arrived in June.

“To the public who have notified us of faults, we thank you — we have crews undertaking audits at night to record lights that have stopped working. However, your eyes in the community are also very much appreciated,” Mr Hadfield said.

“When we have a date for when the next shipment of parts will arrive we will inform everyone but due to global supply issues, we don't know when this will be.

“The council maintains 3900 street lights and the other LED replacements are operating very well. Once the new lights arrive our contractor will make this an urgent priority.”