With the explosion in electricity costs, several municipalities have decided to turn off their public lighting for part of the night and in certain specific sectors, such as in Toulouse from October 31.
Sometimes elected officials are hesitant to take this step, citing issues of insecurity and the role played by streetlights.
In Haute-Garonne, a study by the departmental energy union shows that 98% of the municipalities which have switched off have not recorded any impact on public safety.
In Toulouse, from October 31, part of the city will be plunged into darkness between midnight and 5 a.m.
An extinction of public lighting which is part of a context of energy sobriety, while electricity bills are soaring everywhere in France.
If a majority of the districts of the Pink City will be concerned, the hypercentre and the very busy arteries will remain lit for security reasons.
Just like the spaces where the CCTV cameras are positioned.
"We did not want this extinction to increase the problems of insecurity, we studied the sites in order to have the guarantee that the cameras could continue to operate normally", indicated at the end of last week the mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR).
On the road:
- Extinguishing public lighting at midnight from October 31
- Extinguishing the lighting of monuments from 10 p.m. pic.twitter.com/cnBhPYSPx5
- Toulouse - City Hall and Metropolis (@Toulouse) October 13, 2022
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A decision to turn off which had not been, at first, retained for these same safety issues, preferring to play on the energy savings card through the deployment of LED lighting.
But, since then, faced with recurring questions from communities around this question, the Association of Mayors of France has recommended this measure.
And many municipalities are taking the plunge.
Or have already done so.
Like Colomiers, to the west of Toulouse, which, since 2015, has gradually turned off 50% of its public lighting stock from 1 hour to 5:30 a.m.
This has allowed him to save 115,000 euros each year.
By November 1, the second city of the Haute-Garonne department has decided to extend the perimeter and the times of extinction, from midnight to 6 am.
"If we had not made an extinction, we would have received a bill of 940,000 euros for 2022. In 2023, the bill without extinction would have increased to 1.4 million euros", indicates the mayor Karine Traval-Michelet who will pay 650,000 euros this year.
In 98% of cases no impact on safety
The departmental energy union of Haute-Garonne, which brings together all the municipalities of Haute-Garonne, except Toulouse, has decided for its part to survey the 588 member communities to find out the impact of switching off the lighting. audience in the middle of the night.
Of the 165 who responded, 49 municipalities had already decided to turn off their lampposts at night, well before the energy crisis, to fight against light pollution and preserve biodiversity or to save energy.
In 98% of the cases, “they have not noticed any public safety problem since”, indicates the report.
And to specify that for some of them, “the gendarmerie services confirmed that there was no impact on the statistics related to security”.
“We are now overtaken by the economic subject, but we had started to capitalize on the feedback from the municipalities which had already switched off the lights.
From there was born this idea of survey with the communes.
In this feedback, people say they are quite satisfied.
Where the extinction takes place, there is very, very little resurgence of problems of insecurity”, notes Thierry Suaud who chairs this electricity union.
Consultation of the population
The latter, who is also mayor of Portet-sur-Garonne, advocates above all that this extinction be done “in consultation”.
As in the town of Léguevin, which consulted its population this summer.
At 90.6%, it said it was in favor, and, since Monday, the partial light extinction of public lighting has begun.
“A subdivision is not equivalent to another subdivision.
In some cases the population there is ageing, there is a feeling of insecurity that is reported.
Consultation helps to reduce fears, we have to explain because afterwards we could be told "we're afraid, turn it back on".
Some also tell us "my town is crossed by a secondary road, if I turn off but it's on before and after, it makes a black hole".
If we make people feel insecure, we also take a risk”, continues this elected official who has deployed a program to help deploy LED equipment.
Rather than changing all the hardware, only energy-intensive lamps are removed in favor of LEDs.
In Haute-Garonne, out of 250,000 light points identified, 30% are already equipped.
“On average, we are at 37% savings after depreciation of equipment.
This is real good economy.
The explosion in energy prices proves us right,” says Thierry Suaud.
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