The energy saving measures approved by the central government have already been a month old and that has also been noticed in the streets of the island, where the shop windows are now turned off at 10 p.m. However, although that measure has been accepted “without complaints”, others have aroused more controversy in certain sectors.
In the case of the regulation of air conditioning in restaurants and shops, which now cannot be set below 27 degrees, there are divided opinions. The climate helps this requirement to have aroused less controversy than in other areas of Spain, but even so there are sectors where it is affecting.
“I can't try a suit on someone who is sweating,” explains Miguel Cabrera, who makes custom suits at Confecciones Tito. “Also, a groom, for example, never comes alone to try on the suit, he comes with people. And when there are many people, it is very difficult for me to comply with the temperature regulations,” adds Cabrera, who also chairs the Arrecife Centro Zona Comercial association, integrated into Felapyme.
For her part, the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, Carmen Martinón Ramírez, believes that in general this measure is not difficult to comply with on the island. “In Lanzarote there are many terraces and it is easier. Just open the doors to generate current. You can even have the air conditioning system turned off if you get a lot of natural air circulation,” she says.
In addition, she stresses that the Chamber has not received complaints and that merchants are “very aware of the need to save energy.”
"Automatic sliding doors are unfeasible for most businesses"
The vice president of the Lanzarote Hospitality and Restaurant Association, Cristóbal Sánchez, also speaks in similar terms. “We are completely in favor, we understand that we have to contribute and we are complying with all the measures,” he says.
However, the president of Arrecife Centro misses “a greater degree of explanation about the regulations and about what type of establishments may be exempt from some measures”. And he also complains about the lack of specificity for the Canary Islands: “Here the heat is more humid and on many occasions it will be preferable to have the doors open with the air conditioning off, than the automatic door closing systems that the regulations force us to have.”
Precisely that has been one of the most controversial points, because it forces many businesses to make an investment. Specifically, the decree establishes that before September 30 they must have an automatic closing system installed, to preserve the temperature and avoid unnecessary air conditioning expenditure.
As Cabrera explains, there are two options. One is to install “automatic sliding doors that cost about 3,000 euros and that are unfeasible for most businesses, since we would have to get rid of the shop windows”, and the other is to place “an articulated arm that costs between 30 and 60 euros”.
“The objectives seem good to me, but the publication of the measures seemed hasty and improvised to me. They should have been established progressively, giving small businesses more time to adapt. When we had to apply the anti-covid measures or when we received the compensation aid for the pandemic, the package included, for example, an information poster for customers, but in this case we have to design it ourselves, so everyone will have a different one.”
The decree that includes the measures, in force until November 2023, establishes that businesses that cannot apply them due to labor conditions or specificities of the sector, such as restaurant kitchens, will be exempt, but Cabrera believes that “there is a lack of clarity for many other specific businesses”.
"No problem in bringing forward the switching off of shop windows to 10 p.m."
Regarding other measures, such as the schedule for turning off lights in shop windows, which has aroused controversy in communities such as Madrid, in Lanzarote they have been accepted without inconvenience.
“There is light until 9:00 p.m. and although it is true that before merchants generally turned off the lights at 11:00 p.m., they have no problem in bringing forward the shutdown to 10:00 p.m. Everyone complies,” says the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce.
Failure to comply with any of these measures may entail significant fines, with penalties of up to 60,000 euros for minor infractions, which is how they would be considered in principle.