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Councilors press Eversource on streetlight outages; utility says LED conversion nearly complete
Summary
Councilors criticized persistent streetlight outages and requested an audit; Eversource and city staff said a conversion to LED is about 80% complete and recommended waiting for the conversion to finish before a comprehensive audit.
City councilors used the March 25 committee meeting to press Eversource and city staff over long‑standing streetlight outages and the pace of repairs, and to request data and an audit of the streetlight program.
Councilor Davila (committee member) said the city pays about $3.25 million a year for streetlights and criticized the system for shifting responsibility to residents to report outages. “We pay $3,250,000 a year for electricity for the light posts,” Davila said, and asked for a complete accounting of lights out, repair hours, and the man‑hours devoted to streetlight work.
Eversource and DPW officials said the company is partway through an LED conversion that they expect to complete this year. DPW Director Chris Signoli said the city and Eversource collaborated previously on streetlight projects and that Eversource’s conversion will reduce outages. Signoli suggested waiting until the LED conversion is finished before conducting a full audit: “Eversource is 80% done with the transformation… We have about 14,500 lights. So we have, just a hair under 3,000 that we still need to be redone in the city,” he said.
Eversource’s David Velez, who oversees the electric side in Western Massachusetts, told the committee the city pays a monthly rate for streetlights and that the utility provides repair and replacement services under that arrangement.
Why it matters: Councilors said persistent outages create safety concerns and asked for a transparent account of outages and repairs. They split on timing: councilors pushed for an immediate audit and data; DPW and Eversource asked to wait until the LED conversion is finished to avoid skewed results.
What officials requested or promised - Councilor Davila asked Eversource and city staff to provide counts of lights out, man‑hours spent on streetlight work, and active repair schedules; he said he had requested data about three weeks earlier and expected it. - Chris Signoli and Eversource recommended waiting until the LED conversion is complete to run a comprehensive audit because many lights will be restored during conversion.
No formal vote occurred. Councilors said they will follow up and requested written reports on streetlight status and repair timelines ahead of future committee or council sessions.
Ending: The committee agreed to pursue more detailed accounting of outages and repair work; Eversource and DPW will provide updated counts and a timeline for completing the LED conversion.
