Cities in northeastern Ontario are going to make LED streetlights transitions to reduce their electricity bills and save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sudbury plans to move to LED bulbs gradually, and will take a few years to do so. But over in North Bay, the light bulb change will be much faster. North Bay will spend $2.3 million to make every streetlight bulb to LED, by the end of 2012.

John Severino, North Bay's manager of environmental services, said the public doesn't pay much attention to street lighting. He said, "It's probably one of those things you don't really notice, except when the light goes out.” But Severino says once every bulb has been changed, the city's power bill should be $200,000 lighter.

"It's not one of those items that is talked about very much, but realizing savings in today's environment is very important,’ he said.