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MORGANTOWN – Mon Power launched a streetlight upgrade initiative in 2025 to lower costs, encourage sustainability and improve quality by installing LEDs across Morgantown neighborhoods, according to a release.
In the last year, 125 streetlights have been replaced, and the goal for Mon Power is to change 20 to 30 bulbs a day, 1,200 in total by the end of December.
The new bulbs cost $500 per light and are reported to last 20 years and reduce energy consumption by 50%, the release said.
However, many Morgantown residents have raised concern over the excessive brightness of the lights and their potential to disrupt animal migration patterns.
Micalyn Antonacci, a 16-year Morgantown resident, has created a petition to advocate for warmer temperature bulbs and/or light diffusion technology to replace the current LED bulbs.
She explained that First Energy began replacing the bulbs in her neighborhood in the First Ward about two weeks ago.
"I thought they were just there tinkering, but when the evening time came and my house was lit up like a Christmas tree from the outside, I realized they had changed the lights, and they've been egregiously bright since," Antonacci said.
She said she supports the city and Mon Power's initiative to be energy efficient, but finds the new lights extreme.
"The amount of intrusion and trespass of light into the home is intolerable," she said.
Her goal is for the city to recognize how the lights affect residents and proposes they invest in directional shielding technology or warmer temperature lightbulbs. Her petition currently has around 70 signatures, and she is planning on drafting a letter to members of city council and First Energy.
Antonacci urges Mon Power to understand her and her neighbors’ perspectives as concerned citizens who still want to make Morgantown more energy efficient.
"People can see into my house at night. Even with the blinds closed, it illuminates the inside of the home. I'm an insomniac. I can't sleep even more than I couldn't before," she said. "First Ward's a very close-knit, sleepy, little community, and now we're lit up like the 50-yard line at Milan Puskar Stadium.”
Access Antonacci’s petition at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqB33EY2Dr3SpHARbomgAJTsnZ2N3-0J5gEPo40thbwMWMPw/viewform.
Mon Power did not respond to a request for comment in time for this report.