The B.C. government is making it easier to put high-efficiency bulbs in street lights by becoming the first province in Canada to offer a buy-in-bulk discount to cities and towns.

Benefits include:

• Co-ordination with BC Hydro’s Power Smart Program that offers incentive funding to assist with conversion costs. ( BC Hydro is a crown corporation – Fortis is not and not mentioned )

There are about 360,000 streetlights across B.C. keeping roadways and parking lots glowing, but most use old technology that uses a lot of power.

Replacing the old conventional lights with high-efficiency LED bulbs would cut power use enough to run a city like New Westminster.

While LED lights cost up to three times more than conventional ones, they last five times longer and use 50 to 70 per cent less electricity.

This program was announced recently but stated BC Hydro and not our local utility.