City Won't Turn Off More Streetlights

East Providence will soon get a little bit darker – but not as dark as originally expected.

Approximately 1,100 streetlights were turned off to save money several months ago. Another 1,000 streetlights were scheduled to be turned off temporarily to achieve additional savings. 

That is not going to happen now.

Instead, the wattage of the latter streetlights will be cut approximately in half to achieve the same amount of savings over the same period of time, according to City Manager Peter Graczykowski.

“DPW came up with the idea to reduce the wattage instead,” said Graczykowski. “We won’t be turning off any more lights.”

A typical 400-watt bulb will be replaced with a 250-watt bulb, he said. A 100-watt bulb will be replaced with a 50-watt bulb.

“There is no charge to do it by National Grid,” Graczykowski said. “They’ve got the green light to do it anytime.”

The city manager said he expects the utility to start changing the bulbs within another week or so. 

Graczykowski said he is “still looking at a longer-term goal of purchasing streetlights to achieve more savings for the city. But that could be at least another year or two.”