Somerset Council is to spend more than £5.8m converting its street lights to LEDs in a bid to cut down its energy costs.

The council currently spends just over £5m per year on power for illuminating street lights, bollards, signs and Belisha beacons at pedestrian crossings – being responsible for more than 60,000 such assets across Somerset.

Nearly 70 per cent of these assets have already been upgraded from conventional lighting methods to LEDs – with the remaining 30 per cent being "ageing, inefficient, and increasingly difficult to maintain due to

discontinued parts and outdated systems."

To this end, the council will be committing significant funding over the next 12 months to upgrade the remaining assets – a move which will reduce its annual energy bill by nearly £2m by 2028.

Of the 60,013 lighting assets managed by the council across Somerset, 52,948 are street lights, 4,968 are illuminated signs, 1,677 are illuminated bollards and 420 are Belisha beacons or similar crossing post lights.

Of these, 42,003 assets (69.98 per cent) have already been upgraded to LED technology.

As part of its annual budget (which is set to be approved in late-February), the council has budgeted for reducing its energy bills by £1.1m in the coming year – a saving which can only be achieved by committing the funding up front in the coming weeks.

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Matthew Scriven, the council's head of highways, infrastructure and transport, said: "The council currently spends around £5.016m on energy for our highways street lighting and illuminated assets.

"At today's rates, by converting the existing stock to LED lanterns, it is estimated that we would reduce this to £3.116m after two years.

"An urgent decision is need as savings in the energy budget of £1.1m have

been included in the financial plan for next year.

"This will only be achievable if a decision to commit to ordering materials is made by mid-January, to enable mobilisation and commencement of installation in April.

"For each month 'delay' in committal beyond this point, savings will likely reduce by £91,226 per month."

The funding for this project will come from the existing highways budget, with £3.118m being committed from the current financial year's capital grant and a further £2.750m coming from the 2026/27 grant – meaning the work can be delivered without any further external borrowing.

The council estimates that the work will reduce its energy bill by £1.1m by April 2027, with a further £800,000 being saved by April 2028.

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The council's budget (including these and other proposed savings) will be debated by the full council in Bridgwater on February 25.