A spokesperson for the housing association Opac, which manages some six hundred buildings housing 26,000 residents, explains to France 3 Rhône-Alpes that the electricity costs for the common areas will more than double in the coming weeks. The price for an average tenant goes from 7 to 18 euros per month with equal use, according to the spokesperson.
Not only are visitors encouraged to take the stairs more often, the lighting in the common areas will also be dimmed and, where possible, will be on shorter in the morning and evening.
Measures are being taken all over Europe to save energy. For example, the German city of Hanover already announced that the showers in public swimming pools and sports halls will remain cold this winter. Last week, the Romanian parliament building, the largest building in Europe, went out with its exterior lighting. Earlier, the city council of Paris already took a similar measure for the Eiffel Tower, among others, in an attempt to reduce energy costs by 10 percent.