Assemblymember Patricia A.

Fahy
109th

Assembly District Albany, Bethlehem, Guilderland, New Scotland

For Immediate Release

February 24, 2015

BRENNAN, FAHY ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO MODERNIZE

STREETLIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND SAVE
MUNCIPALITIES NEARLY $100 MILLION
Brennans Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act Would Enable Municipalities To Modernize
Streetlights With LED Lighting Technology And Create Significant Savings
ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 24, 2015) --- Assemblymember James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Assembly
Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) announce
legislation that empowers a municipality to acquire ownership of its streetlights and upgrade them with energy efficient
and cost-saving LED lighting technology. The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act is a response to
NYSERDAs recent report (Street Lighting in New York State: Opportunities and Challenges), which said if
municipalities across the state owned and then upgraded their streetlights with LED technology, municipalities could
achieve a savings of nearly $100 million on annual street lighting costs.
According to the NYSERDA report, outside of New York City, approximately 74% of streetlights are utility owned
and the report identified lack of municipal ownership of streetlights as a major impediment to upgrading streetlights
with LED technology.
The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act is a common sense proposal that would be a win-win-win for
municipalities, taxpayers, and the environment said Assemblymember Brennan. After completing a LED streetlight
upgrade, a municipality and its taxpayers would see significant savings and environmentally, LED technology is energy
efficient and has a much longer lifespan than current street lighting technology.
At a time when municipalities are stretched thinsome running huge deficits and facing fiscal insolvencyevery
dollar saved matters, and I commend my colleague, Assemblyman Brennan, for introducing a common sense initiative
such as the Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act that will enable localities to save money through streetlight
ownership while upgrading lighting using energy efficient technology, said Assemblymember Patricia Fahy.
The Streetlight Replacement And Savings Act, A.5356 (Brennan, Fahy) would:
+ authorize a municipality to assume ownership rights of its streetlights and contract to have its streetlights upgraded
with LED technology;
+ allow a municipality to manage streetlight maintenance directly or to competitively bid for maintenance;
+ create a less costly electric rate, that would be developed in consultation between the Department of Public Service
and the utility, where a municipality would pay for the electricity used by energy efficient LED streetlights and not for
streetlight maintenance;
+ create a purchase price for the transaction between the utility and municipality based on the book value of the
streetlights; and,
+ authorize the Public Service Commission to resolve any dispute in the transaction between a utility and the
municipality, allowing for a more orderly and timely transaction.
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