Will turn off, will not turn off… Since Tuesday, hot and cold have blown alternately around a major announcement: the total extinction of the lighting of the Eiffel Tower at 11:45 p.m. for the sake of energy sobriety.
After various procrastination and other back-pedaling in the last few hours, "we will turn off well at 11:45 p.m. from September 23", assures Jean-François Martins, the president of the operating company in charge of the Eiffel Tower (Sete) this Thursday.
Wednesday evening, the Sete had told the Parisian not to be able to meet this deadline of September 23 to shorten the lighting of the Eiffel Tower with a view to saving energy.
Have backstage discussions with the Paris City Hall taken place in the meantime?
Still, the operating company returned to this announcement on Thursday and confirms that the monument will indeed turn off its lights before midnight from the first day of autumn.
Read also "Without that, it's the m…": the extinction of the Eiffel Tower at 11:45 p.m., a blow for businesses?
The Eiffel Tower therefore only has one week left to sparkle every hour of the night until 1 am.
“Symbolic” measure of the energy sobriety plan presented at the beginning of the week by the mayor (PS) of Paris Anne Hidalgo, the last flickers will now take place at 11 p.m.
Then, the tower will be plunged into complete darkness three quarters of an hour later, when the last visitor has left the site.
10% energy saving target
Anne Hidalgo herself reaffirmed this Thursday morning, in a message posted on Twitter, the good performance of this decision and this from next Friday.
“As I announced (…), the Eiffel Tower will be extinguished at 11:45 p.m. and this from September 23,” she confirms.
As I announced on Tuesday morning, @LaTourEiffel will be off at 11:45 p.m. on September 23.
This measure is part of the first announcements of the Paris energy sobriety plan which aims to achieve 10% energy savings.https://t.co/YPbJmsq0bt
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) September 15, 2022
Switching off the lighting of the Eiffel Tower shortly before midnight is part of a series of measures announced by the City of Paris to achieve 10% energy savings this winter.
The municipality is not exempt from the current energy crisis and already this year records an additional cost of 35 million euros in its bill in this area.
It is therefore in this context of crisis, linked to the war in Ukraine, that the town hall has set up an emergency plan.
The Eiffel Tower is not the only one concerned, since the ornamental lighting of public buildings (district town halls, municipal museums, etc.) in the capital will also be switched off from 10 p.m. on the same date.
