Politics & Government

Farmington Hills Approves Agreement for LED Streetlights

A deal that would pay for itself in less than a year has city officials wondering, "What's the catch?"

An agreement between Farmington Hills and DTE Energy, approved by officials Monday, seems almost too good to be true.

The city has agreed to a contribution of $4,332 toward a pilot project to replace 64 existing mercury vapor streetlights with LED (light-emitting diode) fixtures, which are considered more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. DTE is investing $50,000 toward the project, which is expected to result in a net savings to the city of $5,343 annually.

Mayor Jerry Ellis said the deal sounds "too good to be true" and wondered, "What's the catch here?"

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"There isn't one," Public Services Director Gary Mekjian said.

City Council member Ken Massey pointed out that this is part of a demonstration project. DTE has offered a number of communities the same kind of assistance. The city was initially approached about the project in July, and DTE officials recently completed a review of the city's street lighting, Mekjian said.

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Council member Randy Bruce asked about the life expectancy of the fixtures, which Mekjian said is comparable to that of mercury vapor lights. "The technology has come a long way in the last three to five years," he said, adding that as the LEDs age, "they dim, so there's not an immediate outage."

The city's contribution covers a portion of the installation costs for six complete fixtures and 54 LED heads that will be installed on existing wood poles. DTE will install, own and maintain the system.


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