A Methodology to Determine Electrical Energy Consumption in Street Lighting Systems

In 2005 a study was carried out with the aim of establishing the proper methodology to calculate the amount of energy consumed by the street lighting system of C.A. La Electricidad de Caracas (EDC). The study focused on a lamp´s nominal power, the average loss in the ballast, the average loss due to lamp aging and the technical losses in the conductor as a result of the joule effect. Through this methodology, we determined that the amount of energy consumed in the EDC street lighting system was greater than the actual amount of energy that was being billed. As a result of this information, we were able to save 13.1 GWH/year (8.56% of the total energy that was being supplied to the street lighting system). This also had a positive impact on the overall billing for the area, at an almost negligible cost for EDC