At a recent Sausalito Place board meeting, a resident requested that the board investigate adding additional streetlights in the community. The resident mentioned that there were unlit sections along the street and sidewalks, causing them to be too dark come nightfall. Al Mincarelli, a board member of the community, decided to investigate what could be done to improve the lighting in the community.
Sausalito place is a small homeowners association in Boynton Beach, consisting of 164 single family homes. The community has 46 streetlights, which at the time contained 150-watt, high pressure sodium (HPS) light bulbs. After the resident brought up their concern regarding the “dark spots”, Al and the property manager, Kris, got in touch with a project manager at FPL. After some discussion, the FPL manager mentioned the possibility of converting their streetlights to LED bulbs.
Naturally, Al was concerned about how much the conversion to LED bulbs was going to cost the association. To his surprise, the FPL manager’s response was that there is no upfront cost for converting to 6,450 lumen LED bulbs. After determining estimated monthly cost savings after completing the conversion, the board decided to proceed with the LED conversion of their community’s street lights.
The planning process for the project was completed in early February of 2022, however because of supply chain issues, the conversion could not begin until the beginning of May. The association had to provide FPL various details regarding their current bulbs such as the models and their brightness. Once all the necessary information was provided, the lead time to begin was roughly 10-12 weeks based on procurement of the materials and the conversion to LED bulbs itself was completed in only two days.
Prior to converting to LED streetlights, in May and June, the community’s KwH average usage was roughly 2,550 KwH or $1,227.35 per month. In the two months after the conversion, July and August, the community’s KwH average usage was roughly 1,220 KwH or $1,153.51 per month. The community is currently saving about $73 per month with the new LED bulbs, equating to about $886.00 of savings per year.
Although there is no upfront cost to the LED streetlight conversion, there is a small conversion fee of less than $1 per fixture per month. This fee is added to the community’s monthly bill for a definite period and may vary. However, this additional fee is offset by the reduction in maintenance and energy costs that the LED streetlights provide. The FPL project manager aids the board and property manager along the way to ensure that the project is completed in a timely and effective manner.
Most importantly, the new LED bulbs are so bright that there are no longer any “dark spots” in the community and no additional streetlights had to be installed.
If your board has not considered making the switch to LED streetlights to save your community both money and energy consumption, consider reaching out to an FPL project manager to determine if the conversion would benefit your community.
Click here to read more about FPL’s LED streetlights. You can also visit FPL.com/LED, email LEDLightingSolution@FPL.com, or reach out to FPL Project Manager Michael Meier to learn more.