County, utility spar over LED streetlight upgrades and who is responsible

Residents told the Sumter County Board of County Commissioners that recent LED upgrades to streetlights on county roads are generating intrusive brightness and that the county should resolve the problem. The county's staff said it has not yet received a lease or account breakdown from the utility and cannot conclude whether it owns poles or is leasing them.

The staff member described a confusing exchange in which the county was initially told it owned the poles, while other district-government communications had said the utility owned them. That discrepancy prompted a request for the underlying lease or account documents so staff can analyze which portion of the utility bill is for electric service, maintenance and any pole-rental component. "If we own the pole, still have electric, and go to solar, perhaps we can find somebody else to provide the maintenance," the staff member said.

Representatives who attended the meeting said the switch to LEDs was part of a systemwide change driven by the federal discontinuation of high-pressure-sodium (HPS) fixtures effective Dec. 31, 2025. An agency official at the meeting said the utility is rolling out LED replacements and that the chosen luminance level was an industry practice; the official noted that LED fixtures can mean fewer poles but higher lumen output at each location.

Curtis Winn, who identified himself during the meeting, told the board the utility would work with the county "to fix it" and urged collaborative problem solving, noting that shielding a light to please one neighbor can create complaints from the next neighbor. The county requested the lease and account detail from the utility's account representative; staff said the information would be necessary to run a financial analysis and to determine whether a photometric study should be done before making changes or purchasing poles.

Staff also said SECO's account currently shows more than 4,000 streetlights on the county's billing and that recent notices suggested a multi-million-dollar budget impact if all line items increased. Until staff receives the lease and billing breakdown, staff said it cannot definitively determine the responsible party for installing or modifying fixtures or for paying associated costs.

Next steps: staff requested the utility provide the lease and account breakdown; staff will then present options on ownership, photometric studies, and possible alternatives (including solar or different maintenance arrangements) for board direction.