Streetlights and Floodlights

Providing safe and secure streetlighting for the community

Public lighting is a vital service for our customers, the community and other stakeholders that provides a safe, secure and attractive visual environment for pedestrian and vehicular traffic during times of low natural light. Ausgrid owns and maintains approximately 260,000 streetlights within our network area on behalf of local councils throughout Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter.

LED Roll out Program

Ausgrid is partnering with councils that use our network to upgrade main road streetlights to smart LEDs. LED luminaires use less energy and require less maintenance and physical inspections. In FY22 we installed 26,300 LEDs. Find out more

Streetlighting FAQs

Who owns and manages public lighting in the Ausgrid region?

Ausgrid owns, operates and maintains the majority of public lighting assets across its network area. Some streetlights in our network area are owned and operated by other entities such as council and Transport for NSW. Ausgrid's assets are labelled clearly to distinguish them from council and privately-owned lights. For enquiries about streetlights other than those owned by Ausgrid please speak to your local council.

Who pays for public lighting?

Each public lighting customer has an account with Ausgrid and pays for streetlighting services provided by Ausgrid. Public lighting customers are generally local councils, government agencies and some community titled estates.

Who decides where there should be public lighting and what level of street lighting?

Local Council and Transport for NSW as road authorities are responsible for determining what type of lighting (if any) will be installed on roads. If you have any questions or concerns about lighting levels, please contact your local council. 

Is there an Ausgrid standard for public lighting?

Ausgrid's Network Standard NS119 specifies the requirements for the design and construction of all public lighting assets that are to be owned and operated by Ausgrid.

What is the NSW Public Lighting Code?

The NSW Public Lighting Code sets out the requirements for the provision of public lighting services by service providers in NSW such as Ausgrid. It can be viewed on the NSW Climate and Energy Action website. 

What is Ausgrid's Public Lighting Management Plan?

Ausgrid's Public Lighting Management Plan provides Ausgrid's customers with the public lighting management framework. It is designed to ensure that Ausgrid's public lighting services meet the standards set by the NSW Government's Public Lighting Code and the needs of Ausgrid customers.

Ausgrid strives to work with its customers to provide them with the best possible service while meeting with the obligations of the NSW Public Lighting Code and other regulatory requirements set out by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). Ausgrid is committed to ensuring the safe operation of its public lighting assets while giving safety the highest priority over all other aspects of network management. You can access our Public Lighting Management Plan on our website. 

Public lighting repairs

Who is responsible for streetlight repairs?

Ausgrid is responsible for the maintenance of over 260,000 streetlights across Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter. Some streetlight maintenance is the responsibility of other parties such as councils and Transport for NSW. For example, councils are generally responsible for the lighting of parks, reserves and car parks, and Transport for NSW is generally responsible for lights in tunnels, on bridges and on motorways.

You can check our Streetlight Reporting Map to identify streetlights owned by Ausgrid. For enquiries about streetlights other than those shown as owned by Ausgrid, please speak to your local council or Transport for NSW.

How do I report a streetlight that is faulty or needs repair?

You can report faulty streetlights by visiting our streetlight map and selecting the streetlights you wish to report.

Any information you provide about your streetlight fault can help us fix the problem as soon as possible. This includes helpful information such as the pole number, the number of lights affected, details of the problem with the light and any other relevant information such as the closest residential address and cross street.

If you have difficulties using the service, please call Ausgrid Customer Service on 1800 044 808 between 9 am - 4.30 pm Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, and we will organise to have it repaired as soon as possible.

If you are reporting an electrical emergency, please call us on 13 13 88. If the matter is life-threatening, please call 000 immediately.

How do you conduct maintenance and repairs on streetlights?

We have night patrols to detect the faults on some of the main roads, but we generally rely on the public to inform us about faulty lights. Upon receipt of a fault report, we send the notification to the responsible maintenance crew in the area to plan the repair. Ausgrid crews then safely conduct the maintenance work in accordance with the service levels specified in the NSW Public Lighting Code.

How long do repairs take?

Ausgrid complies with the service levels specified by the NSW Public Lighting Code and carries out unplanned maintenance when it has received a fault report from its customers or members of the public.

Ausgrid aims to repair general faults within 8 business days from the day the report is received. Sometimes a repair is complicated and we need more time to fix a fault. On average, it takes us 25 business days to fix these more complex faults. Faults that could represent higher risk to public, such as faults on pedestrian crossings or fault of more than 3 lights on a major road are attended as priority on average within 4 business days.

Can a public lighting fault be given priority?

Ausgrid carries out unplanned maintenance when receiving a fault report from its customers, the public, and through internal fault detection mechanisms. Ausgrid endeavours to comply with the service levels specified by the NSW Public Lighting Code.

Maintenance of faults is prioritized if the outage involves pedestrian crossing floodlights or a group of three or more consecutive lights on major roads. For these priority faults, Ausgrid will as soon as reasonably possible, take the following steps:

• notifies the road owner (council or Transport for NSW) about the outage,
• informs the road owner of the expected timeframe for repairs,
• informs the road owner when the repair is completed.

How do I request an additional streetlight?

You need to raise this request with your local council. Councils pay for the street lighting service via tariffs for energy use, capital costs and maintenance. Therefore, only your local council can approve and request the installation of new streetlights. The council undertakes an assessment and review of your request, and, if it’s deemed necessary to have an additional or new streetlight, the council will contact Ausgrid to arrange for its installation.

Who is responsible for tree trimming around a streetlight?

Ausgrid is responsible for tree trimming around a streetlight to facilitate safe access to the light. As per the NSW Public Lighting Code, customers are responsible for vegetation management beyond the safe clearance zone to ensure effective public lighting.

Ausgrid publishes a Tree Safety Management Plan to minimize the impact of vegetation on the management of public lighting assets and helps to prevent bushfires from fallen wires and reduce supply interruptions caused by vegetation.

What is the Smart Street Lighting Upgrade Program

Ausgrid, along with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) and 33 local councils are partnering to deliver the largest and most advanced smart street lighting upgrade in Australia. The partnership will see more than 90,000 additional LEDs deployed by 2026. The streetlighting upgrade is using latest smart cities technology that will help to detect faults, optimize maintenance, measure energy use and facilitate off-peak dimming as part of future capabilities. By updating community centered assets such as streetlighting and allowing installation of sensors for parking and air quality, communities can experience safer, more liveable cities with smart city solutions. Find out more about Ausgrid's LED Streetlight Rollout Plan.

Glare from streetlights 

How do I request a glare shield for a streetlight?

Residents seeking to have a glare shield installed on a streetlight should contact their local council. It's the council's responsibility to investigate any complaints about glare issues against the potential impacts that any modification to the existing lighting installation might have on the lighting level, compliance with standards and public safety.

Ausgrid’s Public Lighting Management Plan includes guidelines on glare (light spills) in Section 8.1 and section 11.3, and outlines the process we adopt to address concerns. In summary, if the complaint is substantiated, the council may contact Ausgrid with a request for a glare shield.

The available options will be provided to the council as a quoted service. The council has the option to accept the scope and quoted fee for the project to be delivered by Ausgrid. Otherwise, the council also has the option to engage a third-party lighting designer and contractor to address the glare through a contestable path.

More information

If you have an enquiry about Ausgrid Streetlighting please complete a general enquiry form on our website or call Customer Service on 1800 044 808.