Street lighting

How does the streetlighting go on and off?

The public lighting goes on and off automatically. This is done via a signal from Elia, the operator of the Belgian high-voltage grid. If this signal does not come through in the morning, all the lamps in the public lighting system stay on. This is extremely rare and is quickly rectified.

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Why is there sometimes just one lamp that doesn’t work, and sometimes the whole street?

If one lamp is not working, then the lamp itself is probably broken. If the whole street is affected, then it will be a problem with the street lighting cable or a short circuit.

Compare it with your situation at home:

  • sometimes just one bulb is broken (easy to replace)
  • sometimes all the electricity in your house or in a particular room goes off: in that case, you have to look for the cause of the short circuit to repair the fault (can be complicated).
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