In Wichita, wasting electricity a chronic problem

The chronic waste of electricity in downtown Wichita is a problem that probably won’t be solved soon, given the city’s attitude.

Street lights in downtown Wichita burning during the middle of the day. It’s a continuing problem.

What can citizens do to solve this problem? The attitude of the city is “don’t bother us with this problem.” The city advises citizens to call Westar when they see street lights wasting electricity. That’s the city’s attitude, even though this is a chronic problem.

The city is concerned that working with Westar to turn off street lights during the day may not be cost-effective, according to Ken Evans, the city’s director of strategic communications. That’s the attitude he expressed in a recent City of Wichita Facebook dialog with citizens. But the city has run a campaign asking people to turn off appliances like microwave ovens and alarm clocks when not in use. This saves a vanishingly small amount of electricity, and at a large cost in convenience.

But the city feels it is not cost-effective for them to ensure that dozens of street lights are switched off during the day, even though this is a chronic problem. Even though the city is concerned about the use of electricity contributing to ozone pollution.

Part of the problem may lie in that the city pays Westar a fixed amount per street light, without regard to the amount of electricity used or wasted. Westar, while a privately-owned company that should be responsive to the profit motive, is instead a highly-regulated utility that functions almost as an arm of government.

None of this mitigates the fact that waste is waste, especially waste that could be fixed easily — if the city wanted to.