The Public Service Commission of Yazoo City is well underway with its new project to update every street light in the city.
The project started on Aug. 21, and since then, over 2,200 lights have been updated in Ward 3 and Ward 4, which involved replacing the old and outdated mercury-vapor lights with brand new LED lights.
Jimmy Wever, PSC general manager, said the new fixtures are very beneficial to the future of energy output in the city.
"The good thing about this project is that there is no upfront cost," said Wever, "Payments will be based on the savings from the energy usage because they use about 62 percent less energy."
Wever added that the Public Service Commission will see a reduction in the amount of power they will have to produce to run the new lights and will generate a savings of around $156,000 per year.
The new energy-saving light fixtures are provided by Future Energy Solutions Company, who have already completed projects like this in other larger cities. This new partnership between the company and Public Service also includes a 15-year maintenance plan which is already in effect.
The new LED fixtures run off of photocell technology which illuminates them at night time, and also gives them a life-span of 11 years.
"There really should be very little maintenance for some time," said Wever, "We'll call this company and they will come in and fix it. That's also part of the savings in the project."
The next steps in the project are currently underway, upgrading the lights in Ward 1 and 2, as well as in the Industrial Park and the Shady Lane areas.
Wever expects to have around 4,500 lights replaced by the time the project ends.
Another project in the works for Yazoo City is the installation of light poles long the new Willie Morris Parkway.
The operation began on November 6th with a budget of around $425,000 and will consist of adding new aluminum poles with LED lights the entire length of the new parkway.
The project is expected to last about 80 work days, wrapping up by the end of February 2018.
