Does anyone know when they started to offer it, if they did? Were there ever incandescents such as radial waves or gumballs, used as yard light rentals?

My guess was late 60s around when American Electric started offering those MV NEMA heads and ballast in arms fixtures.

Here I'm guessing for GCE, it was in the 70s sometime. Because some places have the 400 W MV GE Powr/Brackets and they seemed to have been built around the 70s. I've never seen the older NEMAs here in yards, so I guess probably the Powr/Bracket MV was the first one, then later the AEL 165 with HPS.

Around 1962 in my area. Three dollars a month.

That's like what, $25 a month? That's a little pricey...

That's like what, $25 a month? That's a little pricey...

...but you get a high quality light instead of the (mostly) crap ones of today that'll last you many years. And when they replace it, be there and then you can run your "rental" light whenever you want...

What does rental lights cost today? For an example something like 100w hps or equivalent.

I think here it might be $10 but I'm not sure. I also not sure what the wattages are since there no NEMA tag on the fixtures.

Something I do in free time sometimes, is to look for older or unusual rental lights on Google Maps in other towns. But I rarely see the older ones, like tapered refractors or older shaped heads from the 60s, 70s or 80s. Most of them are the typical AEL, Cooper or GE HPS. You would think more of the older ones would have survived, since here they tend to leave them up even if they aren't used anymore.

In my area there are a few old Powr/Brackets left up but I get the idea it wasn't very common to have yard lights back then. Most of them are at commercial places, I only know of two or three that were in yards. Somewhat more common are the AEL 165s. The NEMAs on the other hand are very common in yards especially in the countryside. Or cobras like the GE M250R2, AEL 115 or Cooper OVZ.

Around here, you can rent cobra-heads and NEMA's but most are HPS though there are some old MV NEMA rentals around but most everyone just bought them so they could move them if they moved.

...but you get a high quality light instead of the (mostly) crap ones of today that'll last you many years. And when they replace it, be there and then you can run your "rental" light whenever you want...

If you rent it as a service, you don't care how much maintanence nor how much electricity it asks to work, you will pay the same (e.g. the $25).
The fixture reliability and efficacy vs purchase cost just influences their profit...

Did/does anywhere else in the world do this..? I had never heard of renting lights until I saw it mentioned on here.

Also, what about street lighting..? Here, they are provided by the local authority, not the power company.

Here, I believe they started offering them since 1936 when the first electrical company was established. I believe at first, they had incandescent radial waves on the main street only, and rentals (likely radial waves, too) for people who lived on side streets. All the radial waves on the main street were removed in I believe the late 1940's or the early 1950's.

It wasn't until about the late 1990's or the early 2000's that municipal street lighting came back, but mainly for the parts of the main street that have sidewalks. They were at first HPS but now LED. That is why rentals are common here.

Rentals have been mercury vapour since at least the mid 1950's, with various models of mostly ballast in arm, but the occasional cobra head or NEMA head. HPS rentals were 98% ballast in arm, the rest being cobra heads. I believe they offered ballast in arm with a maximum wattage of 175 for mercury and 100 for HPS ; if the customer wanted more, they installed cobra heads.

In the 1980's, they started to offer flood lighting in various mercury, MH and HPS, the smallest being 150W for HPS and 250 for MV and MH. All went up to 1000W. Now, floods are slowly being converted to LED.

Also, lots of people (myself included) do want an area light but do not want to rent from the utility so privately owned and maintained fixtures are plentiful, too.

Interesting. Here, if you want a light on your property, then it's up to you to provide and fit it. And pay for the electricity to run it...

Also, what about street lighting..? Here, they are provided by the local authority, not the power company.

Here, the municipality does not have the resources to install and maintain street lighting. Instead, they rent from the utility in bulk (and at a discounted rate) and then charge the amount divided by households in the street light zone on the property taxes. I live in a street lit zone, and I pay about 12 dollars per year for the service.

Here, the municipality does not have the resources to install and maintain street lighting. Instead, they rent from the utility in bulk (and at a discounted rate) and then charge the amount divided by households in the street light zone on the property taxes. I live in a street lit zone, and I pay about 12 dollars per year for the service.

Right, here it's paid for out of the council tax you pay to the local authority.