Nesquehoning is looking to cut costs on its lighting bill.

On Wednesday, council discussed its current streetlights and the cost to operate them. Nesquehoning has 418 streetlights throughout the borough in operation, which costs approximately $80,000 annually.Councilman Michael Sniscak Jr. reported that they received a quote from PPL Electric for reducing the wattage of 38 lights in the borough. Those 38, which currently have 150-watt lights, would be reduced to 70 watts and would come with an $8,000 annual savings."PPL didn't understand why we had 150-watt lights, which are for stadiums, not borough streets," Sniscak said. "PPL also couldn't believe we had 418 lights."He said council is continuing to look at the number of streetlights along borough streets to see where some lights could be eliminated without creating issues.He pointed out that there are streetlights on every telephone pole on East Railroad Street for a few blocks and believes this is unnecessary.Sniscak also said that there are four lights at the intersection of Route 209 and 93, as well as two lights in the cemetery behind Macaluso's restaurant, and feels that some of those may be able to be removed.Council agreed that they will contact PPL to see if there is a cost to reduce the wattage on the 38 lights; and will meet again, asking police to join in the discussion, to go through the borough to see what lights could be removed safely.Sniscak said that he believes up to 50 lights could be eliminated for an additional cost savings.The subject of the streetlights began at council's October meeting, when Councilman Frank Jacobs said that the borough spends $6,700 a month on streetlights. The funds for the bill are taken out of the liquid fuels fund, which only received $78,000 this year.