Electricity from disposable torch batteries costs about 1000 times as much as mains electricity.

Mains=about 15 pence a kilowatt hour.

Batteries = about £150 a kilowatt hour.

That however does not tell the whole story. Street lights for a large village might use about 1 kw, or an average of about 4,000 kwh a year, costing about £600 a year. Maintenance could double that.

If a hundred residents each use an LED torch for an average of 100 hours a year, then each would spend about £1 a year on batteries, a considerable saving. And the cost of batteries falls only on those who use them whereas the cost of public lighting falls on all, even those who make no use of it.

If those residents who most used batteries changed to rechargeable ones then the savings would be greater. 

Electricity from disposable torch batteries costs about 1000 times as much as mains electricity.

Mains=about 15 pence a kilowatt hour.

Batteries = about £150 a kilowatt hour.

That however does not tell the whole story. Street lights for a large village might use about 1 kw, or an average of about 4,000 kwh a year, costing about £600 a year. Maintenance could double that.

If a hundred residents each use an LED torch for an average of 100 hours a year, then each would spend about £1 a year on batteries, a considerable saving. And the cost of batteries falls only on those who use them whereas the cost of public lighting falls on all, even those who make no use of it.

If those residents who most used batteries changed to rechargeable ones then the savings would be greater.