The temperature at some swimming pool leisure centres in Wales has been turned down a fraction to make savings as energy bills soar. A not-for profit company that runs 19 pools in Wales says energy bills for running the pools have increased by £3.3m over the past year.
Ivan Horsfall-Turner, chief executive of Freedom Leisure, said temperatures had been brought down "just a small amount" because down by half a degree is making a difference to the utility bills.
He also said the company, which runs the LC in Swansea, the Queensway Stadium in Wrexham and Llandrindod Wells Sports Centre, were looking at turning off saunas and hot tubs at key times, and turning some equipment off at quieter times meaning they were not being kept continually charging.
He told BBC Radio Wales that the changes were "chipping away" at the edges, but with costs going up 300%, it wasn't "really doing the job". The company has already had to shut one of its facilities in England, and says there is huge pressure across the board.
Adding: "There is very real pressure from these huge energy costs which means that we are having to work very heard with each and every one of our partners about trying to achieve viability for our services. We have already closed one facility in England, and I think it is likely there might be a few more. We are doing everything we can to avoid that but there is huge, huge pressure."
Mr Horsfall-Turner said that "relatively few" swimmers had noticed the difference in temperature.
"We have done it progressively, a tiny bit at a time," he explained. "Most haven't notice, one or two have, and where users have noticed, we have had to explain why in terms of the pressure and usage. We are trying to get to the right outcome because we want people to come and swim, but we have to make it as viable as possible."
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