Cambridge Electrical Department

The Cambridge Electrical Department oversees the city’s street and park lighting, the municipal fire alarm system and the city’s fiber cable network. The department handles utility permit applications and master box connections to the fire alarm system, and it publishes the fees for master box disconnects and reconnects. It also publishes resources explaining the city’s streetlight system, including a map of LED street classifications and a conversion fact sheet.

The city’s switch to LED streetlights uses Cree LEDway fixtures in several output levels. The new lights render colors more naturally, with a 4000K color temperature that closely matches moonlight, and they reduce unwanted spill light into homes. The system uses about a quarter of the energy of the old streetlights, and a wireless control system allows the lights to be dimmed.

What to Know

• The LED conversion is estimated to save the city about $500,000 a year in electricity.
• The streetlights’ color temperature is the warmest typically available for LED streetlights.
• A newly installed streetlight shines brighter than normal until it connects with the dimming system.
• Utility permit and master box connection applications are available as downloadable forms.