By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Ortonville- On March 8, 2018, the village signed a contract with DTE to switch the light bulbs in the village to LED bulbs. To date, the village has saved $7,382.06.
“That’s been a great return on our investment,” said council member Coleen Skornicka.
All of the street lamps were switched out last year, and the village DPW has been working to replace bulbs in the buildings. Last fall they replaced the bulbs in Old Town Hall, followed by the DPW building and recently the village offices. The DPW also plans on replacing bulbs in the Old Mill Museum and the Mann School House.
“They use about one-tenth of the power that a normal bulb would take,” said village manager Bill Sprague. “The lumens, if you wanted to get really technical, when you compare, you only need two bulbs in the fixture instead of four. They’re much brighter.”
Most of the light fixtures in the village offices now only have two light bulbs, except for emergency lights, meaning there is an even greater energy savings since only half of the amount of bulbs are needed.
Comparatively, in February of 2018, the energy bill was $2,104.79. In February 2019, the bill was $1,273.06, a savings of $831.73.