They must be kept at 19 degrees maximum in winter, and 27 degrees minimum in summer.
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In Spain, traders will now have to adjust the thermostat carefully. The Spanish government has indeed adopted limits for air conditioning and heating in shops, cultural places and transport. These measures were announced on Monday August 1, in the wake of the European Union’s recent plan to limit imports of Russian gas.
“The heating should be kept at a maximum of 19 degrees in winter, and at a minimum of 27 degrees in summer” in the places concerned, announced the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, at the end of an extraordinary council of ministers. These measures will apply “to commercial and cultural spaces, to large warehouses (…) and to transport infrastructure, such as airports or train stations”. Lights in store windows and lights in public buildings should also be turned off when not in use.
These measures, which are part of an energy saving plan, will be required within a week. This package of measures also obliges air-conditioned or heated premises open to the public to close their doors in order to avoid thermal waste, and to revise their thermal installations if this has not been the case since January 2021. Teleworking will also be encouraged in the private sector when it enables energy savings.
Spain had already taken several measures at the end of May to reduce its energy bill in public buildings, as part of the efforts demanded by Brussels to end European dependence on Russian gas. Teleworking of civil servants is thus already encouraged in order to limit air conditioning in public buildings where the thermostat of air conditioners has already been limited to 27 degrees, and that of radiators to 19 degrees.
In France, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, announced at the end of June two forthcoming decrees on energy sobriety. Asked by the JDD, she first mentioned a text generalizing the ban on illuminated advertisements in the city, between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. The other measure consists of prohibiting all stores from having their doors open when the air conditioning or heating is working – this measure already exists locally from time to time.