A city councillor wants to know if Winnipeggers are paying too much to light the streets.

Brian Mayes wants city staff to study how Winnipeg stacks up against other Canadian cities when it comes to street lighting.

"Some people say we have too much [lighting]. Some say, 'you're crazy, we've got too little, you need to be adding more,'" Mayes said.

Street lighting costs the city about $13 million annually, but that hasn't been reviewed in a long time, he said.

"It's over one per cent of our budget," he said. "Yet we just sort of treat it as [Manitoba] Hydro hands us this invoice, and we pay it."

After issues like roads and sewers, street lighting is usually fairly high on the list of citizens' priorities, he said.

"When you put a new light in a back lane, people do call you. It matters to people." he said.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) says despite costing $13 million a year, the city hasn't reviewed how it lights the streets in a long time. (Walther Bernal/CBC)

Mayes said he wants the study to be broad — and won't focus on specific lighting concerns in certain neighbourhoods.

The standing policy committee on public works voted in favour of Mayes's motion on Tuesday. The city's public works department also endorsed the idea, saying it was a chance to provide greater transparency to the public about how and why streets are lit the way they are.

Winnipeg currently follows lighting guidelines developed by the Transportation Association of Canada.

"All municipalities have to adhere to the same standards," said Bruce Owen, a spokesperson for Manitoba Hydro. "The number one point of these national standards is public safety."

Owen said fees for street lighting are set by the Manitoba Public Utilities Board.

He said Hydro would welcome a study and would like to participate: "perhaps it'll put some fresh eyes on this and make it better."

Winnipeg lit mostly by LEDs

Owen said Hydro is also in the fourth year of a five year plan to switch all street lights in the province to new LEDs, which are more energy efficient and provide better light.

Most of Winnipeg has the new bulbs now, he said.

Mayes wants to know whether those new bulbs could mean a cheaper electricity bill for the city.

"You kind of wonder, should this [bill] be going down, as we go to the LED lights?" Mayes said.

Mayes said he wants the study done as city council heads into the planning for a multi-year budget. The city's public service has 180 days to report back with its review.