More than £2.5 million has been saved as a project to replace all streetlights in Suffolk nears completion.
The project, which aimed to replace all 43,400 streetlights with sustainable, longer-lasting and cost-saving LED bulbs is almost at an end.
The change to LED streetlights supports Suffolk County Council's aim to reduce carbon emissions, light pollution and bring down ongoing maintenance costs for the council.
It was expected that the council would reduce costs by around 76%, however that target has been beaten, and the council is recording savings of 77.64% at the moment.
The total number of upgraded streetlights at the moment is 40,692, with around 1,700 upgrades outstanding, which includes any remaining heritage lantern upgrades.
Around 1,200 of the remaining lights will be completed by the end of the year if things go to plan.
Councillor Paul West, Suffolk County Council's cabinet member for Ipswich, Operational Highways and Flooding, said: "It has been very exciting to see the incredible progress made on the LED streetlight replacement over the past 15 months.
"Our partner contractor, Bouygues has shown such resilience throughout which has resulted in a very well-managed programme and successful project."
Bouygues Energies and Services was announced as the partner to deliver the upgrade in June 2021.
Sales director for the company, Matt Fitzpatrick said: "We are incredibly proud to have been selected as the preferred partner for this contract and it is very pleasing to see the progress the team has made to date.
"The energy-efficient LED technology combined with the authority's central management system will vastly reduce the energy consumption and in turn, increase the lifecycle of the equipment."
The upgrade of the lights, will include a further rollout of Suffolk County Council's central management system which will allow lights to be switched on and off and dim individual or groups of lights.
The system will also automatially flag any lights that are not working.
Cllr West continued: "I would like to extend my congratulations and thank you to all those working on the project.
"The shift has enabled the council to save a considerable amount on energy costs and supported our organisation's ambition to become carbon-neutral by 2030."
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