Rotherham Council’s electricity bill rises by almost 50 per cent in three years

Figures from a Freedom of Information request by the local democracy reporting service found that the annual electricity cost to run street lights across the borough has risen by 33 per cent – from £947,403 in 2019 to £1,262,895 in 2022 to date.

The cost of electricity is up 47 per cent for Riverside House and eight per cent for the Town Hall.

In 2019, the bill to provide electricity to Riverside House was £336,594 – which had risen to £497,989 in 2022 so far.

For the Town Hall, the cost of electricity was £17,793 in 2019, compared to £19,247 in 2022.

Sam Barstow, Rotherham Council’s assistant director for community safety and street scene, said: “The council do not have any plans to reduce illumination through street lighting at this time.”

Analysis by the LGA and the Association for Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) found that councils have seen a 37.5 per cent increase in the cost of running and repairing street lights over the six months to August.

Previous LGA analysis showed that councils were facing £3.6 billion of unforeseen extra cost pressures on council budgets in 2024/25 due to rising inflation, energy costs and the cost of meeting the new National Living Wage.

Rotherham Council is currently predicting an £18m funding gap for next year’s budget, and finance bosses warn that RMBC is expecting to use its reserves to cover the shortfall in the medium term.