Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Municipalities in MV want to close for a week to save energy

To save energy, the offices of the public administration are only heated to 19 degrees.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Municipalities in MV want to close for a week to save energy

To save energy, the offices of the public administration are only heated to 19 degrees. Entire buildings are now to be closed and the temperature reduced between Christmas and New Year in order to achieve significantly more savings.

Schwerin (dpa/mv) - In order to save energy, a number of municipalities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania want to close entire buildings between Christmas and New Year and significantly reduce the temperature there. The Ludwigslust-Parchim district is closing its main locations in Parchim and Ludwigslust, as a district spokesman told the German Press Agency on Monday. The approximately 1,000 employees are required to take vacation or days off during the week. Anyone who has to work should do so from home. For the citizens there should still be contact persons in the area for important concerns, according to the spokesman. A plan for this is currently being developed.

The city of Parchim, which has 20,000 inhabitants, announced that from December 27th to 30th it would not only completely close down the city administration with the town hall and town hall, but also the city information, museum, library, city archive and the house of youth. A city spokesman explained that the reason for this was the current situation regarding the energy supply, which is why they wanted to make a contribution to saving energy.

According to the press office, Rostock is currently examining whether individual administration buildings can be closed between years and reduced in temperature. A city like Rostock cannot close everything and relocate to the home office, for example the social welfare office, a spokesman said.

Arp Fittschen from the City and Municipality Day of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania told the German Press Agency: "Many municipalities will think about it." However, there is no recommendation from the municipal association.

According to Fittschen, it makes more sense to close down entire buildings and turn down the temperature than just doing it in individual rooms. The house of local self-government in Schwerin with almost 120 employees - the city and community day and the MV district day are located there - will be completely closed between Christmas and New Year. Employees are free to take vacation during the week or work from home.