SURREY — The City of Surrey will be replacing nearly 30,000 street lights with LED bulbs over the next five years.
The move comes with an up-front price tag of $11 million but Coun. Bruce Hayne said it will yield savings in the long term.
"It'll be a net savings to the city of $1.3 million a year," noted Hayne. "So the cost of the replacement will be paid off in about eight years. Then, the maintenance on them, replacing of bulbs, that will be an ongoing savings."
LED offers superior lighting colour, lower maintenance costs as the bulbs have a life expectancy of 20 years instead of five, and a power savings of about 30 per cent.
As far as Hayne is aware, Surrey is the first jurisdiction in North American to do a complete lighting replacement of LED bulbs.
Surrey's engineering department has been evaluating LED roadway lighting for the past year, with a pilot project in Newton Town Cetnre.
The first project, the installation of eight lights near the Newton rec centre, received "positive feedback" from local businesses, according to a city report.
The project will start this year in Guildford and City Centre.