The Ministry of Mines and Energy issued Resolution 181 331 of August 6, 2009, whereby the RETILAP (Technical Regulation on Lighting and Public Lighting) is adopted (to take effect on 20 February 2010). By adopting Resolution 180265 of February 19, 2010 was postponed entry into force the regulation until 1 April 2010. As of April 1, 2010, took effect the RETILAP.
This regulation establishes requirements and measures to be met by lighting systems and public lighting, aimed to ensure: levels and qualities of light energy required in visual activity, the security of energy supply, consumer protection and environment preservation; preventing, minimizing or eliminating the risks arising from the installation and use of electric lighting.
By Resolution 180 540 of 30 March 2010 it is clarified the GENERAL ANNEX of RETILAP and requirements for minimum performance and service life of lamps is established, and other transitional arrangements to facilitate its implementation. By Resolution 181 568 of September 1, 2010 it is clarified and amended RETILAP regarding the scope of products for decorative lighting and lighting efficiencies of some sources. By resolution 182544 of 29 December 2010 it is amended RETILAP regarding the transience extension on requirements for incandescent bulbs and minimum performance for T8 fluorescent tubes. In Resolution 180173 of 14 February 2011 it is amended RETILAP regarding clarification on the transience of incandescent bulbs. By Resolution 91872 of December 28, 2012 RETILAP is clarified with respect to the requirement of maximum levels of mercury and plumbum in lighting sources and some general requirements for ballasts are clarified. By Resolution 90980 of November 15, 2013 it is clarified and added to RETILAP aspects in relation to include relevant aspects of the Consumer Statute and to specify the requirements for decorative and lighting ballasts.
Furthermore, Article 2 of Decree 2424 of 2006 "by which the provision of public lighting is controlled" defined thus:
"Article 2. - Public Lighting Service Definition: It is the non-home public service provided in order to provide lighting to public property exclusively and other areas of free movement with vehicular or pedestrian traffic within the rural and urban area of municipality or district. The public lighting service comprises the activities of providing energy to the lighting system, management, operation, maintenance, modernization, replacement and expansion of public lighting system.
Paragraph. The lighting of the public areas into closed building units or buildings or residential, commercial or mixed units, subject to the respective property regulation, is not part of the public lighting service and will be in charge of co-ownership or condominium. Also it is excluded from the public lighting service the road lighting that is not the responsibility of the municipality or district."
The municipalities and districts are responsible for ensuring the delivery of service. They can provide the service directly or indirectly through other utilities or other public lighting providers. (Decree 2424 of 2006 Article 4)
The municipal budget should include the costs associated with providing the service and, if so, the income tax for public lighting, which can be used to finance the service.
It is up to the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission the function of establishing a methodology for the determination of the maximum costs to be applied by municipalities or districts to remunerate the service providers and the use of assets linked to the public lighting system. Decree 2424 of 2006.
Some municipalities hold concession contracts and service tax collection agreements with public utilities companies, which must comply with the elements set out in Article 29 of Law 1150 of 2007, as well as the relevant regulations.
Sometimes fiduciary assignments are constituted by the contractors and the collected money is intended to cover the costs of energy supply, as well as payment of agreements or contracts relating to the activities of provision of public lighting (administration, operation, maintenance, modernization, replacement and expansion of public lighting system).
Additionally, the country has the Colombian Low Carbon Development Strategy (CLCDS) since 2012. The CLCDS is a development planning program in the short, medium and long term, seeking to decouple the growth of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of national economic growth.
The aim of the CLCDS is to design and implement new policies, programs and actions in specific productive sectors to improve efficiency and competitiveness. The set of policies, programs and actions in specific productive sectors has been called mitigation sectorial action plans (PAS for its acronym in Spanish).
For the electricity sector it has been formulated the respective PAS, comprising a set of mitigation measures classified as policies, programs and actions to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases compared with a projected baseline emissions in the short, medium and long term. The analysis of policies and programs are conducted in accordance with the perception of sectorial experts regarding the importance of the policy / program within the sector, alignment with sectorial priorities and the review of the co-benefits of implementation.
The Electric Power PAS in its policy line No. 1 focuses on energy efficiency on the demand side, whose policy guideline is the promotion and development of the energy efficiency policy nationwide. The objective of this policy is to reduce GHG emissions through savings in energy consumption generated by energy efficiency programs and actions. One of the actions of this policy line is to promote energy efficiency in public lighting, which includes the following sub-actions:
- Develop incentive schemes for energy efficiency in outdoor lighting
- Develop a program to support options analysis and the development of public lighting contracts in municipalities that require it
- Promote and support the implementation of energy efficiency projects in public lighting
- Develop a program to strengthen the control and monitoring of RETILAP compliance
Therefore, the NAMA becomes a fundamental tool for the implementation of these lines of PAS.
On the other hand, the resolution 180919 of 2010 the Ministry of Mines and Energy, for which the Indicative Action Plan 2010-2015 is adopted to develop the Program of Rational and Efficient Use of Energy and Other Forms of Non-Conventional Energy (PROURE), considered for the commercial, public and services sectors an electricity potential savings of 4.4% to 2015 and set a goal of electricity savings of 2.66% to 2015.
In addition, Law 1715 of 2014 creates the Fund for Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management (FENOGE) to finance programs in Non-Conventional Energy Sources and efficient energy management.