Public Works personnel maintain and service county-maintained streetlight fixtures on both PG&E and County owned poles to provide street lighting for residents and businesses in eleven street lighting districts across San Mateo County.
Need to report an issue?
District personnel depend upon residents and property owners to report streetlight outages and damages.
Before reporting an issue, please verify that the streetlight is within a County lighting district using our Lighting Districts Locator Map below
- Streetlights along highways are maintained by Caltrans (opens in new tab)
- Traffic lights are maintained by our Roads division, which can be reached at (650) 363-4103
- For other streetlights, please contact your local jurisdiction
- For downed power lines or power poles, please call 911, then call PG&E (opens in new tab)
- For other wires or cables, please contact your local service providers
How to report an issue:
Once you've verified that the streetlight is within a County lighting district, you can do one of the following to report an issue:
- Send an email to streetlights@smcgov.org
- Leave a voicemail at (650) 599-1407
- For urgent matters concerning county-maintained streetlights please call (650) 363-4100
For prompt service, please specify:
- The nearest address to the pole, including the city
- If possible, a streetlight number listed on the pole ~6ft from the ground (see examples below)
- Your name and phone number, so we can contact you for clarification, or notify you of delays
Streetlight issues reported to the County will typically receive service or repairs within ten working days. Complex issues or issues involving PG&E may take more time.
San Mateo County Lighting Districts
1. Colma Highway Lighting District
Broadmoor Village, Colma Unincorporated Area
2. County Service Area No. 6
Princeton-by-the-Sea
3. Montara Highway Lighting District
Montara & Moss Beach
4. Granada Highway Lighting District
El Granada & Miramar
5. Enchanted Hills Lighting Maintenance District
San Mateo Highlands
6. Bel-Aire Lighting Maintenance District
San Mateo Highlands
7. Belmont Highway Lighting District
Harbor Industrial Unincorporated Area
8. Emerald Lake Heights Highway Lighting District
Emerald Lake Hills / Oak Knoll / Sequoia Tract
9. Menlo Park Highway Lighting District
North Fair Oaks / Menlo Oaks / West Menlo Park
10. La Honda Lighting Maintenance District
La Honda Area
11. Pescadero Highway Lighting District
Pescadero Community
Identifying County Streetlights
County maintained streetlights come in a variety of different styles, and their placement may vary based on the local environment.
Some lights share a pole with other utilities, such as power (typically the highest wires), or communication lines, such as phone, television, or internet (typically the lowest wires). These utility poles typically belong to PG&E, with whom the County and other service providers have agreements to share the pole.
While Public Works does maintain streetlights on these poles, we do not maintain PG&E poles, or any other equipment that the poles contain.
PG&E provides electricity and an electrical connection to each county-maintained streetlight. PG&E is paid a fixed monthly fee for electrical energy to these fixtures. District revenue is provided by an annual assessment on tax bills for properties located in County Lighting Districts.
Finding the Pole Number
Each streetlight is identified by a number (up to 5 digits) posted on the pole about ~6 feet from the ground. When handling reports, the pole number is the easiest and most effective way for our team to identify the streetlight, especially if there are multiple lights in close proximity.
While the styles may vary, every streetlight maintained by the county should have a number, even if the pole itself does not belong to us.
In some cases, the number may not be clearly visible, or it may be missing entirely; for example, the number may have been worn away or covered by vegetation, or a new pole may not have the numbers posted yet. If this is the case, you can also make a report using the nearest address or cross street.