While the artist formerly known as Prince and the sports of Bowling Green High School might be pleased with this kind of moody theme, citizens of Hopkinsville & Christian County remain concerned about purple streetlights illuminating parts of the community.
Jeff Hurd, manager for Hopkinsville Electric System and energynet, confirmed as much during Tuesday morning’s Christian County Fiscal Court meeting — and also noted that about 800 such LED fixtures still have to be replaced, after efforts to refit more than 2,500 began last year.
In 2017, Hurd said there needed to be an urgent push to move from the yellowish mercury vapor and sodium bulbs to embrace TVA grant dollars and switch to a more energy-efficient lighting system.
American Electric Lighting (AEL), he added, was the winning bid and chosen distributor — and from 2018-19, more than 2,500 of 3,200 implements within the HES footprint were replaced.
Over time, Hurd said a manufacturing defection quite literally came to light.
Hurd said there had been hopes to have all of this fixed by now, but a series of top priorities have come across the desks of HES employees, including:
— The crisis management of four major weather events in the last 18 months;
— The continued customer demand for high-speed, fiber optic internet services;
— And the financial obligation and restitution required with the defective materials.
More than 400 new bulbs have arrived and are in waiting, and Hurd said the refitting process would resume this spring as soon as poor weather conditions clear.
Hurd also took time to explain what exactly happened in this defective process — where a phosphorous covering becomes faulty, and deteriorates over time.
Since the defective discovery, Hurd said AEL has been acquired by Acuity Brands Lighting, and that supply and demand — coupled with a long list of municipalities in line for replacements — has lengthened the wait for more.
In the interim, Hurd said citizens can continue reporting purple bulbs to HES by either calling in or reporting street names, properties and pole ID numbers.
Adverse driving conditions are but one reason the bulbs need to be replaced, Hurd said, and that’s why main thoroughfares earned the initial focus.
Meanwhile, he said HES/energynet is currently averaging more than 320 fiber internet connections, and that effort is expected to continue, or increase, in the coming months.
