WARREN — City officials are moving toward hiring a consultant to audit streetlight billing from Ohio Edison hoping to recover what they estimate could be hundreds of thousands in overcharges, while weighing a potential takeover of the system to cut costs and upgrade to LED lights.

Councilman Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward, who chairs the public utilities committee, announced plans to introduce legislation at a future council meeting for the city to enter a contingency contract with Tanko Lighting.

The California-based firm specializes in municipal streetlight services, handling data analysis and negotiations, and takes 20% of any recovered funds as payment. If no money is reclaimed, the city pays nothing.

The move follows a report by Tanko that identified discrepancies in billing for about 472 fixtures, including lights not found in the field or duplicated records.

Company CEO Jason Tanko told council members the utility may have overbilled the city $383,040 since at least 2008, based on field surveys that catalogued every light’s location, type and condition. Tanko proposed the city acquire the roughly 5,319 lights currently billed then convert them to LEDs and outsource maintenance, which he projected would produce an annual invoice of $356,000, which is a reduction from the current $570,000 bill.

The upfront costs are about $3.6 million, with an estimated payback in 8.3 years through lower energy rates and efficiency gains. Ownership would allow additional streetlights in dark areas, smart city integrations like traffic sensors and better control over repairs, Tanko said.

Ohio Edison, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy responded Wednesday to the city’s concerns.

“On Tuesday, the City of Warren shared with us a list of areas for review, and we are actively looking into the information provided,” a company representative said in an email. “We value our partnership with the community and remain committed to working closely with city leaders to fully understand their concerns and ensure clarity around their streetlight billing.”

Tanko highlighted during his presentation to council that LEDs would provide better color rendering for safety, making objects like vehicles appear truer under light while lasting up to 25 years versus four to six for high-pressure sodium bulbs.

Greathouse and Mayor Doug Franklin said they vetted Tanko by calling references from other municipalities, all of whom they said praised the firm. “They all said they’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Greathouse said. Similar municipal takeovers have occurred elsewhere. In Massachusetts, more than 75 cities and towns have bought back streetlights to gain control and savings. Tanko has assisted in Colorado rate cases, audited lights in Texas and guided ownership transfers in cities in California.

Cleveland acquired 17,000 lights in 2003.

Some council members raised questions about pole ownership, storm damage, rates and adding lights. Tanko said maintenance would cost about $2 per pole monthly, outsourced to contractors, with no upfront fees for pole attachments under current tariffs.