The city of Hoover will soon finish upgrading its traffic signals to save on energy costs, said Mayor Tony Petelos.

“We have 99 traffic signals that we maintain. Over the years we have upgraded to LED lights, which are very efficient lights,” Petelos said.

Out of those 99 lights, 23 remain to be upgraded, several of which are at traffic intersections in Shelby County. In addition to saving energy, the LED lights are also much brighter, Petelos said.

He said it would cost approximately $100,000 to replace the 23 remaining lights with LED lights. The money will come from an energy grant Hoover received from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“You’d be amazed how much energy a traffic signal burns when you think about how many lights are up there and how they’re on 24 hours a day,” he said. “We pay the power bills on those traffic lights. Once they’re installed, it will show us immediate savings on our energy consumption.”

The city will begin taking bids next week to replace the lights.

Petelos said he expects the work to begin within weeks.

“Once we select a contractor, we will have a meeting immediately with the contractor that’s selected. We’ll order everything they need to order and start on it immediately,” he said.

The city pays well over $1 million per year in power bills, Petelos said.