Ah, Aix-en-Provence. The charm of its old center, its shady alleys, its hackberry trees, its fountains, restaurants and luxury shops, sometimes open doors with the air conditioning or the heating on full blast, depending on the season, where it is good to stroll. A city regularly cited as one of the most pleasant and attractive in France. But Aix-en-Provence is also distinguished by the high electricity consumption of its inhabitants. According to a study of Upenergie, based on data published by the ORE agency (Energy Network Operators), Enedis and Insee, the former capital of Provence is the city in France with the highest energy consumption by inhabitant. With more than 3 megawatts per hour, the inhabitants there consume almost 50% more electricity than the Parisians, and twice as much as the Stéphanois.
A classification for the blow not very honorable which did not escape the town hall, which denies it: “From 2014 we considered this energy sobriety for our buildings by building a biomass boiler room supplied with wood from a radius of 100 km. This supplies the theatre, the hospital and also benefits 28,000 Aixois in the city centre, ”we explain. The city has also changed its public lighting to LEDs, equipped its 98 schools with blades to cool in summer and bring down hot air from the ceilings in winter and launched a five-year insulation plan for them.
However, and despite calls from the government and the advertising campaign which calls for sobriety “I lower, I turn off, I shift”, the city does not plan to reduce the sails during the Christmas period and the traditional illuminations. “This period is a parenthesis that the mayor claims”, assures the communication service of the city led by Sophie Joissains. But it can do nothing about the behavior of its inhabitants.
Residents who may not look at the expense
And the city is also confronted in its center with a problem of insulation of the buildings. “It is the problem of the old and the area of the city center classified as buildings in France which forces us to have wooden windows, less insulating than aluminum or PVC”, advances the Real Estate agency of the Palace, specialized in transactions in Aix-en-Provence. “The apartments in the old center are also very poorly insulated. It would be necessary to double on the inside to improve it, but it is mainly a question of small surfaces, and that would reduce them all the more”, she adds.
Still, for many Aixois, these stories of electricity prices, or even possible shortages, do not really seem to be a concern or a problem. According to INSEE, the median income per capita there is 33,047 euros net per year, an amount slightly more than 10,000 euros (and 33%) higher than the median income in France (22,040 euros annually). Naturally, some of its wealthy inhabitants have large houses that need to be heated and have the means to do so.
Taken through the economic prism, the ranking of the most energy-intensive cities is quite telling. After Aix, are the cities of Bordeaux and Nice. At the back of the pack are Mulhouse and Saint-Etienne, a city where the median annual income per inhabitant is 18,410 euros.
Finally, and if there are no statistics dedicated to the city of Aix-en-Provence alone, a study by Ademe (Agency for Ecological Transition) establishes, unsurprisingly, that the departments on the Mediterranean coast are those whose housing has the highest rate of equipment with air conditioners, with one housing in two provided (47%).