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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ausgrid's Public Lighting Management Plan outlines 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 public lighting 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.
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.
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.
The streetlight map is intended solely for reporting streetlight faults. For issues like glares or to request a new streetlight, please contact your local council.
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. Residents are informed about the progress through automated emails.
In some situations, repairs can be more complicated and may require additional planning. We might need to coordinate road closures, manage traffic services, or use special equipment to address the issues. Ausgrid is obligated to fix these faults within 25 business days, but we will make every effort to complete the repairs sooner. If a streetlight fault poses a significant risk to public safety, Ausgrid can provide temporary lighting until the issue is resolved.
We endeavour to comply with the service levels specified by the NSW Public Lighting Code.
Maintenance of faults is prioritised 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 make all efforts to rectify fault within 3 business days or deploy temporary lighting to maintain public safety.
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.
In cases where faults significantly affect public safety, Ausgrid may choose to deploy temporary lighting.
You need to raise this request with your local council. Councils pay for the street lighting service provided by Ausgrid. Therefore, only your local council, as the road authority and Ausgrid's public lighting customer, 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. Installation of new streetlights can take up to 90 days, from receiving council approval.
Residents concerned about glare from streetlights should contact their local council
Councils as road authorities (The NSW Roads Act, Part 1 Section 7) are responsible for investigations of streetlight glare issues and determining whether it is appropriate to install a glare limiting device (glare shield). The investigation usually includes assessment of glare shield’s impact of on lighting levels and public safety.
Ausgrid is responsible for tree trimming around a streetlight supplied by overhead network to facilitate safe access to the light. As per the NSW Public Lighting Code, customers (LocalCouncils or TfNSW) 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.
If you have an enquiry about Ausgrid Streetlighting please complete an enquiry form on our website or call our Streetlight Customer Service line on 1800 044 808.
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.
