Long after most residents of Pomona’s Phillips Ranch neighborhood went to bed, a crew of Southern California Edison streetlight repairmen was just getting started on the lights outside their homes.

“A lot of people don’t notice us when we pull up in our bucket trucks overnight, but it’s nice to know they’ll wake up the next day with brighter lights on their streets,” said streetlight repairman Carlos Villamonte, who has been with SCE for nearly 40 years.

That night, Villamonte and three other repairmen upgraded more than 70 decorative streetlight fixtures with LED lamps. The technology is nicknamed “corn cobs” because rows of small LED chips wrap around a cylinder like kernels. The corn cob lamps fit inside the existing decorative streetlight housings, allowing crews to retrofit and extend the life of the fixtures instead of replacing them with entirely new ones.

“With a lifespan of up to 12 years, these new corn cob lights should mean fewer streetlight outages and less frequent replacements,” said John King, an SCE senior project manager overseeing the effort.

The work is part of a larger effort to modernize SCE-owned streetlights while tackling outstanding repairs. To accelerate upgrades, SCE assembled strike teams of streetlight repair crews that volunteered to work overnight and on weekends.

“We’re replacing streetlights at times when fewer people are driving or walking, which reduces potential traffic interruptions and minimizes the impact to customers,” said King.

So far, SCE has upgraded more than 400,000 SCE-owned streetlights to longer lasting LED technology. The progress builds on a program SCE launched in 2016 to improve the quality and reliability of street lighting while reducing energy use and costs.

The teams use a dashboard to identify areas where more lights need repairs or upgrades. Crews have already upgraded streetlights along Whittier Boulevard in Montebello, Rosemead Boulevard in Rosemead, Foothill Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in Upland, and Cesar Chavez Avenue and Third Street in East Los Angeles.

“We’ve had several business owners along major streets come up and thank us as we complete the upgrades,” said King. “One runs a taco truck and another owns a dance studio that’s open late. They’re glad their customers feel safer walking up to their storefronts.”

“First and foremost, it’s about safety,” added Steve Lustro, who represents District 5 on the Pomona City Council and has lived in Phillips Ranch for 43 years. “We have a lot of people in the community who walk in the evening, whether they’re out by themselves, walking their dogs or with someone else. Knowing we can rely on the streetlights gives us peace of mind.”

With the Phillips Ranch upgrades complete, the crews are moving on to the South Bay and Santa Monica areas, where more streetlight work awaits after dark.

For more information about SCE’s street and outdoor lighting, visit sce.com/streetlighting.