Essential Energy contractors commenced the installation of LED luminaries around Bathurst on November 25 and as of the end of January, 1001 LED lights had been deployed.

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Under the roll-out, approximately 5680 category P and category V street lights will be replaced with the LED luminaries.

The switch comes with numerous benefits, including better light quality, improved asset performance, a more than 60 per cent reduction in electricity consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

It will also see Essential Energy maintenance charges reduce by more than 50 per cent.

At Wednesday's council meeting, councillor Alex Christian praised the introduction of LED across the city, saying some of the benefits were emerging already.

"I went for a drive [on Tuesday night] through the CBD and it was lit up like day time, so it's fantastic," he said.

"It's great that it's going to cost the ratepayer less and all the CO2 emissions and that sort of stuff will keep some people happy, but certainly they brighten the place up and it just looks fantastic, so it's a project well worth it."

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The deployment of LED will continue throughout this year and is anticipated to be complete by June.

The luminaries being deployed are smart control enabled. but do not yet have the smart controls installed.

Essential Energy is procuring them now, and it is anticipated that the smart controls will be deployed in Bathurst in the second half of 2020.

Bathurst also has over 2000 decorative-style, post top and 'shepherd's crook' lights across the network of subdivisions.

Council has said that these will be retrofitted with standard LED luminaries as part of the project.

The total cost of the project is $2.5 million, paid for with loan funds, and council has a pay-back period of just under four years.