The cost of electricity skyrockets in the Barcelona City Council
The Barcelona’s town hall will spend at least 18.4 million more euros due to the strong increase in the price of electricity. The data appears in the government commission of the City Council, which forms Barcelona in Com Y PSC, on November 3. At the aforementioned meeting, the two parties approved an item of 3.3 million to cover the expenses derived from the increase in electricity in public educational centers and another of 15.1 million for the costs of municipal buildings [ver aquí].
EXPENSES
Specifically, the amounts are 15,149,888 million, which will be used to meet the expenses derived from the increase in the cost of electricity supply in buildings and facilities of the Barcelona City Council and dependent bodies, and 3,343,648 million to finance the higher cost of the electricity in public schools and other buildings and facilities of the Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona -which form the Generalitat and the consistory- for the last four months of 2022.
THE COST, 1.5 AND 2 TIMES MORE THAN IN 2019
According to the City Council, the economic forecast for energy supplies was made in 2021, a time when the scenarios were not as complicated as they are today. “The administrations fell short” in the calculation.
For this reason, “from the consistory the budget has been modified to increase the item for electricity consumption.” The total cost will be between 1.5 and 2 times above the cost of 2019, the reference year, a figure that at the close of this article had not been provided by the consistory.
The total number of meters corresponding to buildings, public lighting, fountains and signaling is 4,903, indicates the consistory.
THE HEATING, AT 19º MAXIMUM
Parallel to the increase in the budget, since last August, the City Council has already applied measures to reduce electricity consumption in municipal offices. As established by state regulations, the heating temperature cannot be above 19º and the air conditioning cannot go below 27º. And the lighting of the buildings has to be turned off at the end of the working day -or at the latest at 9:00 p.m.-, as well as the air conditioning systems.
Municipal measures to curb electricity spending also include turning off computers and screens when finishing work, stopping using the elevator whenever possible and closing the doors of air-conditioned spaces.
ALMOST 5,000 COUNTERS
According to the City Council, “the fact of having a public marketer –Barcelona Energya highly questioned company– helps to contain spending due to the high knowledge of consumption that we have, as well as the effort to search for prices from the retailer that it makes in the wholesale market”. Currently, Barcelona Energia is the only company that offers electricity to the City Council. It has 11,000 electricity supply points and invoices around 58 million euros per year.