Lighting the Way to Energy Efficiency

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - July 30, 2015 - When a homeowner swaps out incandescent light bulbs for efficient LEDs, it can reduce the customer’s overall energy consumption and slightly offset the contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Now, think big.

That’s what The United Illuminating Company (UI) did. UI, the electric distribution subsidiary of UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE: UIL), is preparing to replace more than 50,000 high-pressure sodium streetlight bulbs with highly efficient LEDs across its service territory.

When the project is complete in 2021, it’s expected to:

• Reduce electric consumption by about 12.8 million kilowatt-hours a year across the 16 towns and cities where UI owns and maintains the streetlights. That’s more electricity than 1,500 typical homes use in a year.
• Reduce UI’s cost to maintain the streetlights, thanks to the significantly longer lifespan of LED bulbs. This reduction in maintenance costs will save municipal customers and others paying UI’s streetlight rates an estimated $2.6 million over 15 years.
• Offset the equivalent of about 9,700 tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. That’s about the amount of carbon dioxide that would be produced by burning 9.4 million pounds of coal - enough to fill more than 47 railcars. [1]

“This project is a winner for everyone involved,” said Anthony Marone, UIL’s senior vice president for customer and business services. “Whether it’s a city streetlight or the lamp in your living room, LED bulbs use significantly less energy than traditional bulbs, and they last much longer, so they don’t need to be replaced as frequently. That helps our municipal customers reduce their overall environmental impact and save energy, while reducing maintenance costs over the long term.”

The six-year project gets underway this fall in Bridgeport and Stratford, and will continue through 2021 in the 16 towns and cities where UI owns and maintains the streetlights. Deployment of the LED streetlights will proceed town by town, on a timetable that reflects the age and UI’s normal replacement schedule of the existing streetlights.

For municipal customers, specific energy savings will vary, depending on the community’s choice of lighting wattage and generation service supplier, both of which affect costs. In general, an LED streetlight’s lifespan is about 2.5 times that of the equivalent high-pressure sodium bulb, and it runs more than 40 percent more efficiently.

In addition to being significantly more efficient and essentially maintenance-free than the high-pressure sodium bulbs they’re replacing, the LED technology produces a superior quality of light, casting a crisp white light instead of the yellowish light produced by high-pressure sodium bulbs.

About UIL Holdings Corporation

Headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE:UIL) is a diversified energy delivery company serving more than 725,000 electric and natural gas utility customers in 67 communities across two states, with combined total assets of over $5 billion.

UIL is the parent company of The United Illuminating Company (UI), The Southern Connecticut Gas Company (SCG), Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation (CNG), and The Berkshire Gas Company, each more than 100 years old. UI provides for the transmission and delivery of electricity and other energy related services for Connecticut’s Greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas. SCG and CNG are natural gas distribution companies that serve customers in Connecticut, while Berkshire Gas serves natural gas customers in western Massachusetts. UIL employs more than 1,900 people in the New England region.

[1] Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html