With the rise in prices, the metropolis of Montpellier should face, in 2023, an additional cost of 10.64 million euros for its energy expenditure.
This Tuesday, the community voted for an energy sobriety plan.
Among the measures put in place, the reduction of heating and air conditioning periods or the closure of the outdoor pools of two swimming pools.
The note is salty, for the metropolis of Montpellier (Hérault).
With the rise in energy prices, the community should face, in 2023, a potential additional cost of 10.64 million euros for its expenses related to electricity, public lighting, gas and wood. in pellets.
And 8 million euros more, for Tam, the delegate in charge of transport.
On invoices, the amounts should be multiplied by two or even three times.
Because for the communities, the State has not set up a tariff shield, reserved for households.
Efforts have already been made in recent years in the metropolis to save money.
In buildings, the community ensures, for example, that it does not heat more than 19 degrees in winter, and that the air conditioning is never below 26 in summer.
A dozen are also equipped with photovoltaic solar panels, three of which are “in total self-consumption”, which saves 75,000 euros per year.
The elected official does not want to touch public services
But, agrees the community, we must go further.
This Tuesday, a sobriety plan was voted on by the metropolitan council, in an attempt to reduce consumption by 10% by 2024. But “all the measures will not compensate for the increase in energy prices, deplores Michaël Delafosse (PS), the mayor and president of the metropolis.
Unless we make the decision to close our swimming pools, or restrict [access] to our media libraries.
But touching public services, the elected official does not want to hear about it.
To avoid spending too much, the metropolis will thus shake up the thermometers.
The heating and air conditioning periods will be reduced by ten or fifteen days.
In winter, the heating will remain at 19 degrees, but in summer, the air conditioning will be increased to 27, “then gradually to 28, depending on the specifics of the buildings”, explains the metropolis.
In swimming pools, the water temperature will be lowered by one degree.
In addition, the outdoor pools of Neptune and Caron will be closed from November to February.
And the light will be turned off in the swimming pools, "on days of bright sunshine and in the middle of the day".
In town, the operation of certain fountains will be stopped.
“Catch-up measures”
The metropolis has also planned to accelerate the deployment of LEDs, and extinguishing on major highways at night.
And the agents will be made aware of simple gestures: turning off the lights of unoccupied rooms, closing the doors of the offices, turning off the devices on standby, etc.
These measures should save 700,000 euros in 2023. In the longer term, the metropolis promises to renovate its most energy-intensive buildings and replace aging equipment.
The opposition, in the metropolitan council, however regretted a too unambitious sobriety plan on Tuesday.
Alenka Doulain (various left) notably pointed to “short-term catch-up measures”, certainly necessary, but “without any real planning objective”, while “the situation is serious”.
"What we need is a ten-year plan to become a community" with a "positive energy" heritage, she says.
“We need to produce as much as we consume.
“In particular solar energy, while the sun is not lacking, in Montpellier, confides the elected official.
For Alenka Doulain, the metropolis does not give any "rousing course", and "ends up, like the government, giving clothing advice to the French, to create a diversion".
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