The Village of Bensenville has been chosen by ComEd to benefit from a pilot program using “Smart” technology in all 446 ComEd-owned streetlights in the Village. In November and December, crews are assessing the streetlights and developing coordinates to track the lights.

The streetlights will not noticeably change. The locations remain the same as do the poles and arms. Only the light fixture head will change. Currently the lights on the wooden poles (ComEd owned and maintained) are lit with high pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs. These fixtures will be replaced with an LED (light emitting diode) light. Compared to the current HPS bulbs, the LED light has reduced energy consumption, longer life time, quicker start-up speed and reduced glare.

As a participant in the pilot program, the Village does not have to pay for the fixture replacement and the fixtures will remain after the pilot program concludes.

Starting in January, two crews are planned to begin installation in Bensenville. Eight to fifteen lights will be changed each day per crew with installation complete by the end of February.

Residents and businesses should not notice anything different or be inconvenienced during installation.

The ultimate intended advantage for our residents and visitors is a reduction in the number of outages witnessed in the Village.

Nationwide, only the Villages of Bensenville and Lombard are benefiting from this pilot program.