This summer, heat waves are collected like trading cards and seeking respite in the air conditioning can be tempting; Just by pressing a button, the room temperature goes from 40ºC to 23ºC. The energy consumption resulting from this easy and convenient action, however, has a direct impact on the electricity bill and on the environment.
For those who are not sufficiently encouraged by this, it may be useful to remember that Royal Decree-Law 14/2022 is still in force, which since August 1 of last year, establishes temperatures of 27ºC for air conditioning in summer (25ºC in places where perform light physical work), and whose validity ends next November.
The rule applies to public administrations, commercial premises, cultural and leisure spaces and transport stations (including airports). If these spaces are air-conditioned, the decree also establishes that they must have self-closing doors to avoid energy waste.
The Administration concluded that inspections on compliance with these measures were the responsibility of each autonomous community. In Catalonia, the body in charge of carrying it out is the Department of Business and Labor, within the framework of the Generalitat. "During this first year we have provided informative and sensitization support to establishments about the requirements of the decree to make compliance possible," the Department declares for this newspaper.
Last Tuesday, the decree turned one year old and the authorities warn that from now on, "information files may lead to sanction files." The punishments will be, in economic terms, up to 5,000 euros for cases of minor misconduct, and up to 100,000 euros for those considered serious.
This body has carried out 1,200 inspections in Catalonia, in the period from September 1, 2022 to June 31, 2023. Most of them were favorable, although the exact number is not known, due to lack of records. Through the actions carried out, information has been obtained regarding the door closing system, the limitation of air temperature, information with informative posters on temperature, humidity and the measures that are being applied.
"It has been verified that most of the establishments comply with the regulations, although a lack of doors has been detected and that some establishments required to have the information sign do not have it," explains the Department, adding that in any case, if non-compliances were detected, "requirements were made for them to be solved".
Despite the confidence of the Administration, within the energy sector there are some versions that are not so optimistic about the success in the implementation of the decree. The impression of José Enrique Vázquez, president of the Grup de Gestors Energètics (GGE) of Catalonia, is that the level of application that has been achieved is very low. The absence of sanctions displaced compliance with this norm to the field of personal conscience, and not so much to that of legislative obligation. "There are those who think that it was a decree to make people aware, but I think that, in this case, raising awareness has not worked," Vázquez resolves.
The automatic doors and the signaling of the measures of energetic saving, of the temperature and of the humidity, are the less complied with, according to the expert, who believes that it is easy for them to occur in large chains and public buildings; for small businesses, the degree of complication may be greater. “In the case of small businesses, the application of the measure depends on the characteristics of each location; You have to guarantee working conditions, comfort and product quality" in the case of food establishments, introduces Laura Garcia, spokesperson for the Comissió d'Energia del Col legi d'Enginyers de Catalunya. It is important to remember, in this sense, that the 27ºC that was established was room temperature, and not what the air conditioning unit itself indicates.
For his part, Lluís Morer, head of the area of energy saving and efficiency at the Institut Català d'Energia (Icaen), defends that the measure has no technical complication and that it is "at a social level that still needs to be worked on". He adds that, after years accustomed to lower temperatures at home and at work, finding comfort in 27ºC requires effort.
Beyond sanctions and awareness, what seems to have really motivated the establishments was the price of electricity. "Hoteliers were forced to undertake energy saving plans to reduce unaffordable electricity bills," says Hostelería Madrid. The association adds that the greatest effect that the decree had was to accelerate this dynamic that was already present in the establishments and that in this community they have not detected serious breaches either.
