When to turn on the heating? In the condominiums, the cold tends the debates

In mid-October, Lucie (first name changed at her request), 52, has already taken out the extra heating, warm clothes and padded slippers, and half-opens the oven after the meal to heat her two-room apartment acquired two years ago. in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine).

"It does not exceed 18°C", deplores this executive in the advertisement, consulting the measurements of her connected thermostat from her phone. And this despite the presence of double glazing and an energy performance diagnosis (DPE) classified C on a scale ranging from A to G.

“One of the load-bearing walls of the living room overlooks the garbage room and an uninsulated passageway,” explains the resident. In the same room, the windows face due north.

As early as September 30, she sent an email to her trustee to request that collective heating be started in the building, equipped with six gas boilers of 100 kW each.

In 2021, the heating had turned on a week after the first request. Not this year. "When someone talks to me about a launch in November, it immediately makes me laugh less," she says.

The residence benefits from a fixed price supply contract, signed with Engie. Over the year 2021-2022, the “heating” expenditure item amounted to 49.200 euros, against 50.600 euros the previous year.

"The difference is simply explained by a shorter heating period last year", interprets the trustee.

"Paying for Others"

Three floors above, the thermometer climbs to 24°C in the kitchen of Claude (first name changed), 75, owner of an 80 square meter apartment.

He has not yet turned the thermostat but he explains that he started renovation work thirteen years ago, for around 13.500 euros.

"I also carried out a total insulation of the openings", says this technician in the retired automobile, pointing to one of his French windows, oriented to the south.

Member of the union council of the condominium, he opposes the ignition of collective heating and advises his neighbors who are cold "to install an electric heater."

"Because I have a large area, because of the distribution of costs, I will pay for the others", he justifies.

Drain the boilers

But the volunteer trustee of the residence which has 126 apartments, Dominique Sevray, prefers to wait. “I want a majority to agree,” he says.

It is he who takes responsibility for deciding when to turn on the heating, a very sensitive issue in this year of soaring energy prices. And this, for lack of a clear regulation.

"People don't really know who decides when to turn on the radiators because less than 10% of condominiums in France have regulations that set heating dates," explains Emile Hagège, director general of the Association of condominium managers ( BOW).

In this case, it is generally up to the trustee, in other words the agent, to have the last word. "But good practice requires that this be done in consultation with the union council, which has a mission of control and assistance, and which is made up of people who live in the building," he adds.

Result: with the recommendations of sobriety to compensate for the staggering costs of energy, the trustees and the councils find themselves torn between the cautious occupants and the most sober.

In this "basket of crabs", it is necessary to decide towards the most coherent. “We have every interest in limiting gas consumption and pushing back the opening of the valves as much as possible, and taking advantage of this period of time to demist the networks, purge the boilers and radiators, while regulating the flow rates” , according to Emile Hagege. "In this way, each apartment could be heated to 19°C and would save between 15 to 20% of its energy consumption, which would have a very positive impact on the bill", summarizes the director general of the ARC.