Four areas in the district where street lights will be dimmed overnight to cut electricity bills have been identified by Bradford Council.

It follows the success of a secret trial in one Bradford road where no-one seemed to notice the difference. The lights in Flockton Road, Bradford, were turned down by a quarter.

The Council has now determined four other locations to test out the dimmed lighting. It has already ruled out switching off street lights overnight.

Chris Hasselby, a senior lighting engineer at the Council, said: “The designs for the pilot dimmed street lighting schemes will be finalised over the next few weeks.

“The four pilot schemes will be installed early in the new year in parts of Odsal, Idle, East Bowling and Thornton.”

In October the Telegraph & Argus reported that dimming equipment had been installed on the street lights in Flockton Road, which reduced the power consumption by 25 per cent. The Council said that no complaints had been received about the dimming.

It costs £100 per column, but the Council believes the long-term savings of the equipment would be beneficial. This came as a special report into the authority’s energy use revealed that the electricity contract has had to be re-negotiated resulting in a price hike of almost two thirds from the beginning of November.

And as street lighting is a “significant user” of electricity, there is the potential for the bill to soar by £1 million in the next financial year.

The electricity price rise is also expected to cost the Council an extra £1.5 million for schools and £1.3 million for other service departments in 2009/10.

The news follows a report in July which outlined the Council’s overall energy consumption costs and revealed that its annual fuel bill rose by nearly £5 million last year as prices soared.

e-mail: jo.winrow @telegraphandargus.co.uk