Tucson, Arizona
Aging fluorescent, metal-halide, and high-pressure-sodium lighting costs money every hour it runs. Arizona Electrical Solutions designs and self-performs commercial LED retrofits across Tucson — interior, high-bay, and exterior — with the controls, photometrics, and energy-code documentation handled by one team. Request a bid →
LED Retrofits
A commercial LED lighting retrofit replaces aging fluorescent and HID lighting with LED — either by retrofitting the existing fixture bodies or swapping to new fixtures — and adds the controls that modern energy code expects. The result is the same light or better for a fraction of the energy, with years of re-lamping labor taken off the maintenance calendar. We design, install, and commission these upgrades for offices, warehouses, retail, schools, and municipal facilities across the Tucson metro, usually while the building stays open.
Because we are a design-build electrical contractor rather than a fixture installer, the photometric layout, the energy-code package, and the installation all come from the same company. See the full commercial lighting scope we self-perform.
Recessed, surface, and architectural fixtures in offices, retail suites, lobbies, and corridors — retrofitted at the right light levels and color temperature, with integral emergency battery packs where egress lighting is required.
Retail & TI electrical →Fluorescent and metal-halide high-bays swapped to LED high-bay and low-bay fixtures, laid out for uniform light at the floor — the spaces where burn hours and lift-access re-lamping costs make retrofits pay off fastest.
Industrial & warehouse work →Pole-mounted area lighting, wall packs, and pathway and security lighting converted to LED with the photometric coverage and uniformity the site and local code require — poles, bases, and feeders handled by our own crews.
Exterior & site lighting →The Economics
Every building pencils differently, and we would rather show you the math for yours than quote an average. These are the factors that move the number:
The wattage difference between the existing lamps and their LED replacements, multiplied by how long they run. A 24/7 warehouse or a parking lot that burns dusk to dawn saves far faster than a 40-hour-a-week office.
Fluorescent tubes, ballasts, and HID lamps fail on a schedule; LED fixtures run for years. The maintenance savings are biggest where re-lamping needs a boom lift or a scissor lift — high-bays, stairwells, and pole lights.
Occupancy sensing, daylight response, scheduling, and dimming multiply the fixture savings — and depending on the scope, energy code may require some of them anyway once fixtures are replaced.
Your TEP rate structure and demand charges shape the value of every kilowatt-hour saved, and utility incentive programs can improve the math further. Offerings change, so we confirm what is current during design rather than designing around last year's rebate sheet.
Controls
Swapping lamps captures the first layer of savings; controls capture the second. Lights that turn themselves off in empty rooms, dim against daylight through Tucson's sunny calendar, and follow a schedule instead of a wall switch keep the new fixtures from burning energy nobody is using. Modern energy code expects much of this — occupancy and daylight controls are baseline requirements in many replacement scenarios, not options.
We install, program, and commission the full range — see our building and lighting controls scope.
Incentives & Documentation
Commercial energy-efficiency incentive programs are a real part of retrofit economics in TEP territory, but utility incentive programs change — so we confirm current TEP offerings during design, install rebate-eligible equipment, and provide the documentation that supports the incentive. Lighting and controls retrofits sit alongside our broader commercial energy, solar, and EV charging work, and we keep a TEP standards reference hub because we deal with the utility's requirements daily.
Our in-house engineers produce the photometric layouts and IECC-style energy-code compliance package that plan review requires — so the layout that gets permitted is the layout that gets built.
Self-Performed
We self-perform retrofits with our own licensed electricians and our own lifts, phased by area or after hours so tenants, shifts, and customers keep working.
Office floors, warehouse bays, and the parking lot on the same retrofit — with pole bases, feeders, and site circuits handled by the same crews. No handoff between an interior installer and a site-lighting sub.
A retrofit touches more than lamps — circuits, sensors, control panels, and emergency lighting all change with it. We commission the controls, train your staff, and hand over the documentation at closeout.
FAQ
Usually the question isn't whether the old fluorescent or HID fixtures still work — it's what they cost to run. Aging lamps and ballasts draw more power for less light, and re-lamping hard-to-reach fixtures carries a real maintenance cost year after year. We can retrofit the existing fixture bodies or swap to new LED, depending on the condition of what's installed.
It depends on the fixture count and types, ceiling heights and lift access, whether we retrofit existing fixtures or replace them, the controls scope the energy code requires, and how much of the work happens after hours. Rather than quote an average that fits no building, send us a fixture count or let us walk the facility and we'll return a line-item bid.
Yes. Most retrofit work happens in occupied buildings. We phase the work by area, run night or early-morning shifts where operations require it, and keep egress lighting code-compliant throughout — so tenants, production, and customers keep moving while the lighting changes over.
Utility incentive programs for commercial lighting and controls exist, but offerings and requirements change. We confirm current Tucson Electric Power offerings during design, install rebate-eligible equipment, and provide the documentation that supports the incentive.
Often, yes. Depending on the scope, energy code can require occupancy sensing, daylight response, and other controls when lighting is replaced — and controls are where much of the savings lives anyway. We design, install, program, and commission occupancy, daylight, time-clock, and networked controls as part of the retrofit.
Yes. Our in-house engineering produces photometric layouts and IECC-style energy-code compliance documentation for plan review, and we commission the controls and hand over the closeout documentation when the work is done.
Send us a fixture count, a utility bill, or just the address. We'll walk the building and come back with a line-item bid — not a guess.
Request a Bid Call (520) 308-6235