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CO-OWNERS ACROSS FRANCE ARE BEING ENCOURAGED TO INDIVIDUALISE HEATING, USING ENERGY METERS WHERE POSSIBLE, TO SAVE ON ENERGY USAGE AND CUT DOWN ON BILLS A rising number of French apartment
buildings with communal heating bills (copropriétés) are switching to individualised bills as costs rise. One co-owner (_copropriétaire_), Oriabel Baumgartner, at the La Tour Sarrasine
residence in Nice, told France 3 that her building recently switched to individualised heating with the agreement of all the co-owners. This change cost her €8 per year per radiator. She
said that the investment was worth it, because “when you look at the statistics, the savings are 15% on average”. She added: “Before we think about making savings, we have to make people
responsible for knowing how much they are consuming.” The process in her building had begun before the energy crisis, but the co-owners are even more committed to the change now, with
inflation and energy bills having risen considerably over the past year. READ MORE: ENERGY BILLS IN FRANCE ‘WOULD DOUBLE IN 2023 WITHOUT STATE PROTECTION’ READ MORE: TIPS FOR SAVING HUNDREDS
OF EUROS ON ANNUAL ENERGY BILLS IN FRANCE Commenting on the issue, the Ecology Ministry in France said: “In all collectively heated buildings, when technically possible and when costs are
under control, each building must now be equipped with a device that enables [the owners] to see and regulate their energy consumption.” There are two main methods: * Individual thermal
energy meters (for heating or cooling). * Heating cost allocators. Some are installed at the entrance to the flats and others on each radiator. However, in many older buildings, this type of
device is not "technically possible", meaning that some co-owners may choose to split the bills between them manually. Pierre Taboni, president of the Taboni property management
firm based in Nice, said that the system was seen as “quite negative by [some] consumer associations because you have energy exchanges between flats that can be difficult to manage”.
However, he added: “If you change the windows, install thermostatic taps... yes, that can be a good thing. I advise it in some co-ownerships.” But Mr Taboni said that even with
individualisation, there are still frequently extra fixed costs due for collective buildings. He said: “70% corresponds to what is recorded and the rest is fixed. I'm having sleepless
nights because I have co-owners who [still] won't be able to pay this winter.” He also said that despite the installation of heat meters to measure consumption, he knows of some
co-owners who are not planning to turn on their heating much at all, to continue to save costs even further. The government is trying to convince more co-owners to take an individualised
approach, and in its ‘_plan de sobriété énergétique_’, which it announced on October 8, it encouraged this as a way to save energy costs. The change would “encourage inhabitants to reduce
their energy consumption and therefore their bills”, said the Élysée in a statement. RELATED ARTICLES RISING ENERGY BILLS: FRANCE TO KEEP PRICE CAP IN 2023 INFLATION AID, ENERGY CHEQUE: WHO
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