Switched on Costa Blanca town makes most of lockdown by switching off a third of street lights to cut 40% off electricity bill

Calpe Town Council is reducing public lighting by up to a third while ‘the streets are empty’ in an energy saving drive it hopes will cut the municipal electricity bill by more than 40 per cent.

It has begun reducing public lighting in less busy areas, such as the Princesa de Asturias ecological walkway, to which access is prohibited, ‘so it does not make sense to maintain all the lighting in that area with the expense that it entails.’

In other areas the lighting will be reduced by a third, such as beach promenades where one in every three street lights will be turned off.

The council’s general services staff have been evaluating all the areas of the town to decide where it is best to implement the savings system, and areas where the lighting should be maintained as it is.

Calpe Council said: “The idea is to reduce the amount of lighting, with as little impact on the public as possible. Therefore, there are areas where the lighting will be reduced by a third, in others it will be suppressed and in others it will be maintained.”

Mayor, Ana Sala, said that “in these moments of confinement and with most of the population in their homes, there are many areas that it does not make sense to keep them lit up.”