A Nottingham MP has revealed the monthly electricity bills of a government owned office block in the city. The HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) Unity Square building in Queensbridge Road faced criticism after members of the public saw its lights had been left on during the night.
HMRC said it was still "fine tuning" the light control system in the nine-storey building. After questioning the Treasury on the matter, Nottingham South MP Lillian Greenwood shared a monthly breakdown of the electricity bills, spanning from April to September.
The Labour politician tweeted: "Over the last six months the electricity bill for HMRC’s Unity Square building came to a total of £557,805.20 - and the largest monthly bill was in August."
Read more: Criticism over Unity Square building in Nottingham 'lit up like Christmas tree' amidst energy crisis
The full costs are as follows:
- April- £87,488.78
- May- £79,107.16
- June- £86,343.35
- July- £106,209.28
- August- £113,345.46
- September- £85,311.17
Reacting to the figures, Zafran Khan, Nottingham City councillor for Wollaton, tweeted it was "absolutely disgraceful". Ms Greenwood also shared "good news" in the form of a response from Victoria Atkins, a financial secretary to the Treasury.
Over the last 6
months the electricity bill for HMRC’s Unity Square building came to a total of £557,805.20 - and the largest monthly bill was in August. pic.twitter.com/NTMDiOb1hs— Lilian Greenwood (@LilianGreenwood)
"As part of the normal process of delivering a new building and ensuring it is operating effectively and efficiently, HMRC is working to address issues with the way the lighting system in Unity Square is currently programmed which are leading to lights being switched on for longer periods than expected," the statement read.
"It has had contractors on site this week to fix this and has reported an improvement, with more work to take place shortly. HMRC will be carefully monitoring whether the changes implemented have been effective."
The response added that the length of time the lights will remain on after detecting movement will be reduced from 30 minutes to 10 minutes. "In addition, after 8.15pm, the lights will be switched off with activation after that time only if movement is detected and will remain on for five minutes."
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