Longer nights, bigger bills: 4 exterior lighting checks for Ontario sites before December

On December 21, Toronto's sun sets at 4:43 p.m. and doesn't rise until 7:47 a.m. That's about 15 hours of darkness, and your parking lot, wall packs and sign lights run through all of it. Inside lighting gets the attention. Outside lighting quietly runs up the bill.

Here are four checks worth doing before the darkest weeks.

1. Walk the site after dark

Do it once, at dusk, with a notepad. Note any fixture that is out, flickering, orange or very bright. Orange usually means high-pressure sodium. A harsh white glow often means metal halide. From January 1, 2029, Canada bans importing and making both lamp types for general lighting, so plan the LED switch now, not when parts run out.

2. Check photocells and timers

Lights on at noon mean a failed or dirty photocell. Lights off at 5 p.m. mean a timer still set for summer. Timers also drift after power outages and the clock change.

3. Dim after hours, don't just switch off

A lot needs light for safety, not full power at 3 a.m. Motion-based dimming keeps a low level all night and brings fixtures to full when someone arrives. In a U.S. Department of Energy-reported project across 15 shopping-centre parking lots already on LED, adding fixture-level controls saved between about 6% and 48% more per site (preliminary results).

4. Look for over-lighting and glare

Brighter isn't safer if it blinds drivers or spills onto neighbours. Right-sized LED fixtures with good shielding put light where people walk and park.

None of these checks takes long, and together they show where your outdoor lighting is wasting money. Want a second set of eyes? We'll walk your site at dusk and tell you what's worth fixing first. Email info@circuitlighting.ca.

Sources: timeanddate.com (Toronto, December 2026); Environment and Climate Change Canada, Products Containing Mercury Regulations, Table 2; U.S. DOE, Outdoor Lighting Controls Ownership Update (2022).