“We have an increase in prices of up to 300 million. It’s a really monstrous number, so looking for savings is definitely in place, “said THMP director Tomáš Jílek. He added that the company has achieved savings of 20 million crowns a year since the lighting was taken over four years ago.

According to the director, THMP previously bought 70 percent of electricity at auctions and bought the rest on the spot market. That will now change and the company will buy all the electricity needed to run the network next year at auctions. “Only energy auctions in the summer months, what prices can Prague achieve,” added Jílek.

The company is also trying to save on the modernization of the lamp, which, according to director and councilor Jan Chabr, took over in 2018 in poor condition.

According to them, up to a third of the savings mean the replacement of sodium lamps with LED luminaires, which the THMP has recorded so far at approximately 6,500 of the total number of 136,970 poles in the metropolis. If the city continues to invest the current 300 million crowns a year in the lamp, according to Jílek, the modernization will be completed in 13 to 15 years.

If there are few people in the park, the light will not be so intense

At the same time, in the next two months, the company will use the so-called biodynamic lighting technology, which changes the lights according to the number of people on the streets, in about five thousand lamps. THMP has tested in six parks since last year’s technology, and is now planning a mass deployment. “We are curious how the people of Prague will accept it, because on such a huge scale we will be among the top in Europe,” said Jílek.

Chabr added that another saving will be the reduction of lighting of about 140 monuments, including the Rudolfinum, the lookout tower on Petřín or historic bridges. The company turns on their lighting every day, gradually from the oldest to the youngest, and so far it has been switched on until 01:00. From June 1, the lights go out at 23:00, in winter at 22:00. According to Jílek, this will save the city about 1.6 million crowns a year.

THMP is also in charge of the plan to place solar power plants on the roofs of Prague, which are in their infancy. Now, according to Chabr, install the first three power plants on the roofs of smaller apartment buildings in Černý Most. According to him, they should cover 30 to 40 percent of apartment consumption.

According to Jílek, the company plans to install another 25 power plants by the end of the year. “Next year it will be two power plants a week. We have a high ambition to bring this number closer to the thousands of Prague roofs that will be connected by the solar power plant, “he said.