Geneva to get monopoly for thermal energy
A monopoly for the development and operation of a district heating network is to be created in the canton of Geneva. On February 13, the people of Geneva will decide whether they want to include this principle in the canton’s constitution.
The monopoly is to be transferred to Services Industriels de Genève (SIG). Because this requires an amendment to the constitution, the bill must be submitted to the electorate.
A cantonal monopoly in the supply and distribution of water and electricity is already laid down in the constitution. It would extend to heat energy if the voters voted yes.
The Great Council has already adopted a law aimed at coordinated development of thermal energy. This stipulates that infrastructures of public benefit are set up and operated by SIG. The company has 234,000 customers in the canton of Geneva and supplies them with water, electricity, gas and thermal energy. The independent public institution already operates GéniLac, a heating and cooling system that uses water from Lake Geneva.
By 2030, 250 kilometers of pipelines are to be built in the city of Geneva and in the large municipalities to ensure a quarter of the canton’s energy supply. Protective measures have been taken to ensure that the investment costs are not passed on to customers. Nevertheless, FDP and SVP reject the constitutional change.
Longer waiting times for social housing
The people of Geneva will also be asked on February 13 whether the conditions for obtaining social housing should be tightened. At the request of the Mouvement citoyens genevois (MCG), the right-wing majority of the Grand Council has changed the general housing and tenancy law so that someone must have lived in the canton for four years beforehand in order to receive a subsidized apartment. Left circles have called a referendum against this tightening.
They see this as discrimination against everyone who does not live in the canton. The decisive factor should be the social need and not the criterion of the length of stay. In their eyes, an increase in the waiting time exacerbates poverty. And medium-sized companies will also be affected, they warn.
The left-wing parties and unions also fear that the law WILL set a precedent, so that sooner or later other social benefits could only be drawn after two or more years. For the right, it is about giving priority to the people of Geneva in view of the acute housing shortage.