3,807 Streetlights Sold to Municipalities to Enable Installation of More Energy-Efficient, Affordable Lighting

LED Street Lighting Up to 65 Percent More Efficient Than Traditional Lighting

ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission), as part of its continuing work to reduce municipal energy consumption across the State, approved separate requests to sell utility-owned streetlights to three municipalities in upstate New York totaling more than $3.15 million. With the change in ownership, the municipalities can control streetlighting and install their own state-of-the-art energy efficient lights to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment.

“New York has long championed municipal government efficiency and encouraged municipalities to have greater control over their energy usage,” said Commission Chair Rory M. Christian. “Implementing LED street-lighting options can play an important role in helping the State achieve its clean-energy goals in support of New York’s nation-leading clean energy initiatives.”

The Public Service Law established procedures to facilitate the transfer of ownership of complete street lighting systems to municipalities or other government entities. With the change in ownership, municipalities take control of street lighting and have the option to install state-of-the-art, energy efficient lights and new technologies to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment by reducing energy consumption. Including today’s decisions, the Commission has approved the sale of 163,983 streetlights to 148 municipalities. The total value of these streetlights is more than $92.8 million.

Energy efficiency lights, known as LEDs or light-emitting diodes, use significantly less energy than traditional street lighting. The adoption of LED-lighting can save municipalities up to 65 percent of electricity costs for street lighting.

LED-related energy savings can contribute significantly to the State’s energy and environmental goals. In fact, if all of the State’s streetlighting were converted to LEDs, the energy savings potential is estimated to be enough electricity for 75,000 average-sized houses. Financial savings could be as great as $28 million per year. Given the opportunity for savings, municipalities across the State have been showing interest in either buying utility-owned streetlighting facilities with the intention of converting to LEDs or working with utilities to convert the utility-owned street lighting within their respective jurisdictions.

For an average municipality, streetlights may account for up to 40 percent of total local government electric energy consumption. Pursuing LED conversions allows local governments to lower municipal energy expenditures while lowering overall emissions from the energy sector, furthering the State’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The streetlight sales approved today by the Commission are as follows:

• Village of Kenmore, Erie County: $2.7 million for 1,338 streetlights from National Grid (upstate);
• Town of Hamburg, Erie County: $394,732 for 2,193 streetlights from New York State Electric & Gas Corp.; and
• Village of New York Mills, Oneida County: $68,314 for 276 streetlights from National Grid (upstate).

Today’s decisions may be obtained by going to the Commission Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Numbers 21-E-0530, 21-E-0529 or 21-E-0531 in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number". Many libraries offer free Internet access. Commission documents may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500). If you have difficulty understanding English, please call us at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.