lower heating, closed swimming pools and museums… Faced with soaring prices, these municipalities are tightening their belts

Faced with the challenge of energy sobriety, each municipality finds its trick to lowering its energy bill: cutting off public lighting, closing certain buildings, elected officials are showing their imagination. The socialist president of the regional council of Brittany, Loïg Chesnais-Girard is preparing to put an energy collar in his region: “We are going to have an additional energy cost of 10 million euros over the year 2022”, he says. This winter, the temperature will drop by one degree on average in Breton high schools to reach 19 degrees.

“High schools are 2 million square meters, while office buildings in the region are a few hundred thousand square meters.”

Loïg Chesnais-Girard, president of the regional council of Brittany

at franceinfo

“It will concern all public buildings in the region, but high schools represent much more”, he adds. He hopes to reduce the energy bill by 7%.

In Strasbourg, the objective is to reduce energy consumption by 10%, but that will not be enough since the bill will be multiplied by five. “We go from an energy budget of 12 million euros over the year to more than 60, if we do not take any measures”, explains the town hall ecologist Jeanne Barseghian. She therefore ordered operating savings, in particular in museums which will close two days a week instead of one. The measure makes people cringe, but the elected environmentalist wants to reassure: “When there are major exhibitions, for example, we will keep an opening six days a week. It is essential and we will obviously continue to welcome schoolchildren and all the times of mediation in our museums.”

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The metropolis has for its part identified the most energy-intensive public facilities to take other measures: the ice rink and the swimming pools come first. Same observation for Stéphane Rossignol, mayor of La Grande-Motte, in the Hérault, and president of the agglomeration community of the Pays de l’Or.

“While our pools were open seven days a week, all four will be closed every Sunday afternoon, plus one day in the week. This means that there will be one and a half days of closure per pool per week.”

Stéphane Rossignol, Mayor of La Grande-Mothe

at franceinfo

He hopes to save 300,000 euros and maintain a more or less stable energy budget. A totally inaccessible objective in Montataire, in the Oise, where the mayor Jean-Pierre Bosino will see his bill go from 600,000 euros to 2.5 million. “You can make all the savings you want, 1.9 million, you won’t find them like that, it’s impossible! Well, I decide we won’t pay.” The elected communist demands that the government regulate energy prices for municipalities, as is the case for individuals.


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