72% of over 70s, 56% of rural mayors (56%)

In detail, the oldest mayors are the quickest to throw in the towel (72% of those over 70), as are the rural mayors (56%) and those whose operating budget is at least 10% spent on energy (62%).

90% of the elected representatives surveyed say they are concerned about the increase in energy prices for their municipality’s budget, underlines this survey conducted among 609 mayors for the company Hellio, which specializes in energy management, and the magazine Public Actors.

“In this context, where a record number of mayors are considering throwing in the towel, this study is the first to show that this price explosion is pushing some not to pay their bill or even to merge with a neighboring municipality.”emphasizes Ifop in a press release.

Didn’t want to pay the energy bill

Thus, 16% of the mayors surveyed plan to merge with a neighboring municipality to cope with the price increases, “signs of fear for the sustainability of the hexagonal municipal structure”, and 12% are thinking of not paying their supplier the additional costs generated by energy inflation . More than half of the mayors (55%) also plan to pool their energy supplies with other local authorities to reduce costs.

Finally, 63% of the mayors out of the 609 respondents answered that they are dissatisfied with the government’s efforts to help the municipalities cope with rising energy prices.

As for the answers to these questions, 85% of the mayors intend to heat their premises and equipment less, 82% to cut down on lighting at night, 24% to raise local taxes and 74% to start energy renovation. Only 9% want to close public services.