The Paris City Hall, the Saint-Jacques tower, the municipal museums and the arrondissement town halls will cease to be lit at 10 p.m. from September 23, due to soaring energy costs, announced Tuesday, September 13 the mayor of the capital, Anne Hidalgo. The elected socialist, who refuses, on the other hand, the end of street lighting for a reason ” of security “will ask the State to ” do the same thing “ for national monuments, and to the owners of private monuments to take measures “to go in the same direction”.
Among the most imposing monuments of the capital, the Town Hall was until now lit up until 1 a.m., like the Eiffel Tower, which will now turn off when the last visitor leaves, i.e. 11:45 p.m. confirmed Anne Hidalgo. As for the bridges of the capital, the end of the ornamental illumination can be done if it is compatible with the imperatives of safety for river navigation, specified the assistant to the ecological transition, Dan Lert.
The temperature in the buildings of the City, “excluding nursing homes and crèches”will be lowered by one degree during the day, from 19°C to 18°C, and to 12°C in the evening and on weekends, i.e. “all periods when these buildings are unoccupied”also announced Mr.me Hidalgo.
Temperature of Parisian swimming pools lowered by one degree
The Town Hall wants to postpone the start of the heating of its buildings, both in the morning, “thirty minutes”and over time “to approach the winter period”, also announced the aedile. This shift will be canceled in the event of very cold temperatures in November, she reassured.
The temperature of the forty Parisian swimming pools will also be reduced by one degree, at a time “outside the water and in the basin”, she explained. Today, it is set at 27°C for air and 26°C for water.
After Lille and Marseille, which have already announced similar measures, the capital wants ” give the example “ with a reduction in its energy consumption of 10%, i.e. the equivalent of the “energy consumption of 226 schools”said the former socialist presidential candidate, recalling that the majority on the left had since 2007 “invested 1 billion euros in energy efficiency stricto sensu”.
These first steps should make it possible to achieve “from the next few weeks” approximately 60 gigawatt hours of savings, i.e. 80% of the objective sought and “to amortize 10 million euros” the increase in energy prices, insisted his first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire. Other decisions will be added ” before winter “said the Town Hall in a summary.
Energy prices have skyrocketed in recent months, against a backdrop of tensions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in many particular countries, companies or public bodies are seeking to reduce their consumption. For Paris, a city with an annual budget of 8 billion euros which has so far paid 54 million euros for its annual gas and electricity, this situation leads to a potential additional cost of 35 million, explained Mr.me Hidalgo.
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Private please follow
While private condominiums represent 40% of Parisian consumption, compared to 4% for municipal services, the ecological transition assistant, Dan Lert, recalled the means allocated for “triple, compared to the former mandate, the number of private housing renovated by the end of the mandate” in 2026. The Town Hall wants to reach 40,000 housing units renovated per year by 2030.
As for social housing, nearly 60,000 of them have already been renovated, for an average energy gain of 54%, or an annual saving of 400 euros per family, argues the Town Hall. The mayor, in office since 2014, also recalled the investment made since “10 billion euros for the ecological transition”including 1 billion in the thermal renovation of buildings.
Faced with this crisis and global warming, “we must accelerate the energy transition”insisted Anne Hidalgo, who calls for the mobilization of all the actors, “private and public”and will ask the major consumers of the capital (office buildings, hotels, supermarkets, department stores, etc.) to also reduce their consumption by at least 10%.
For her part, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will hold a press conference on Wednesday, September 14 “on the energy situation” while the “tariff shield” expires at the end of the year, Agence France-Presse learned on Tuesday from those around him. Mme Borne will discuss the country’s supply scenarios, after the forecasts presented the same day by the electricity and gas transmission managers (RTE and GRTgaz), as well as the future of the tariff shield and energy sobriety.
The government, which is preparing its draft budget for 2023, has promised that rising gas and electricity prices will remain “contained” after the tariff shield expires on December 31.