The churches have noticed that it has become more expensive to maintain large local heating. More than 30 joint church councils are considering closing churches because of the high electricity prices, according to KA, the employer organization for church businesses. – Based on repeated polls since last winter, we can determine that the electricity price has created significant challenges for the local church in half of the municipalities in the country, says senior councilor Marin Stærk in KA to news. Oslo lowers the temperature In Oslo, the Church of Norway has lowered the temperature to 15 degrees in all the churches, in order to deal with the high electricity prices. The temperature will rise again for Christmas, but then it will be a tough winter for churchgoers. Then the plan is to lower the temperature again to 15 degrees, until Easter. But it may be appropriate to lower the temperature all the way down to 10 degrees, writes newspaper Vårt Land. – Advent and Christmas are the most important and most visited holidays for the church, says Kjetil Haga, churchwarden in Oslo to news. He reckons that they have already cut electricity costs by 25 per cent. Kjetil Haga is a churchwarden in Oslo. He believes that the churches in Oslo have reduced costs by 25 per cent after lowering the temperature. Photo: Kathrine Nygård Held at 19 degrees On 1 September, the churches in Sogndal had already spent NOK 100,000 more on electricity than they had budgeted for. Now the Sogndal ecclesiastical joint council is looking at ways to cut electricity costs. – We heat more over a longer period of time, and have a heating management system in five out of eight churches, says advisor for archives and finances in the Sogndal ecclesiastical joint council, Magny Ugulsvik Bukholm. In the churches in Sogndal, they want the temperature to be around 19 degrees during events, as far as they can manage. Although they are not considering lowering the temperature now, Bukholm does not rule out that it may become necessary at a later time. – It’s not so nice to sit and freeze, but it’s clear that it can force itself and that we have to turn down the temperature a little. The electricity price has created significant challenges for the local church in half of the municipalities in the country, according to the employers’ organization for church enterprises. Photo: Leiv-Erik Bondevik / news Extraordinary electricity support Several measures have been taken so that the church can handle the electricity prices. In September, the government proposed an extraordinary electricity subsidy of NOK 30 million so that the churches do not have to close during the Christmas period. The support is intermediate and payable for the area with the highest electricity price. That means the parish south of Dovre and the Sognefjorden. The Employers’ Organization for Church Businesses (KA) has also proposed that the Church of Norway come under the “Temporary grant scheme for voluntary organizations as a result of extraordinary electricity prices”.
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Norwegian churches struggle to pay the electricity bill – must lower the temperature – news Vestland
