We look after over 58,000 streetlights and other illuminated items on the public highway across MK. It costs a lot of money to keep the streetlights lit and maintained so we're looking at ways to reduce our maintenance costs and cut our energy consumption whilst still keeping the road network illuminated to a safe level.
With the LED upgrades and CMS we aim to save 5 million kWh of energy and 966 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
LED Upgrade
Read our Frequently Asked Questions about the LED upgrade.
We've made a significant investment to convert our 58,000 street lights to LED (light emitting diode). The older sodium orange glow lights are going out of production and energy costs have risen significantly. LED lights are much more energy efficient and help us to reduce our carbon footprint.
The light from the new LEDs will look different to the older orange glow ones, the new lights provide a crisp, white light. They are fitted pre-dimmed and targeted to light up the areas where the light is needed only, reducing light pollution.
The upgrade programme began in 2014 with the grid road streetlights and the final phase is now over 96% complete. Any remaining non-LED lights will be converted during routine maintenance.
Please note, if the streetlight you are reporting has recently been upgraded to LED, it will look different to the older, orange sodium glow and it will come on in the evening later than before due to the new sensor. If the light is still off after sunset for a significant amount of time (e.g., over 2 hours) then please report it.
Central Management System (CMS)
Read our Frequently Asked Questions about CMS here.
To help us managed our streetlights more efficiently, we're also installing nodes onto all lights so we can manage them through a central system (CMS). Each node sends information to a central control and vice versa. This system will mean we can pinpoint where any faults are more quickly and can plan repairs and maintenance around them. It also gives us the ability to control the light levels so in the future we can lower or switch off lights where they are not needed.