Acorn lights sit on the assembly line at the Global Green Lights plant opening in Chattanooga. The new facility is the result of Global Green Lights moving its manufacturing from China to the U.S.BY THE NUMBERSCost of lights: $18 millionCity projected cost: $27.5 millionAuditor projected cost: $24 millionSource: Office of internal audit
Chattanooga Auditor Stan Sewell released a report late Friday that fingered EPB for the spiraling cost of the city’s streetlight replacement project, bolstering the case of Global Green Lighting in its feud with the city-owned utility.
Asked by the City Council to sort out the protracted kerfuffle among EPB, Global Green Lighting and Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s administration, Sewell found that fuzzy maintenance figures, millions of dollars in ongoing charges and a $5 million “billing discrepancy” introduced by EPB were the primary drivers behind the high price of replacing the city’s 26,551 streetlights.
EPB said that it does not profit off its lighting contract with the city. Those charges are merely “pass-through” costs, said David Wade, executive vice president and chief operating officer at EPB, in an earlier interview.
Don Lepard, CEO of Chattanooga-based Global Green Lighting, heaped praise on Sewell, but stopped short of pointing fingers at EPB or the city as he has in the past.