High energy costs may affect leisure centres

Liverpool’s council-rum cremations and leisure centres may cost more due to rising energy bills.

As per the officials, the council’s fuel bill may rise by £650,000 over the coming months. Street lighting cost alone may rise by £250,000 as the current contract is due to expire by the month’s end. The electricity cost of few smaller sites could rise by as much as 50 percent.

The council has warned that it may need to revise the charges of few services which residents pay for, in order to make good a part of the extra burden.

Deputy council leader, Cllr Flo Clucas, said that certain services draw a lot of electricity. But the good news is that most of the energy contracts are not due for renewal until 2009. So a majority of services will not get affected immediately.

High gas prices will affect cremation services. Admission fee of leisure centre may also go up, but school children will be spared.

Meanwhile, the opposition politicians are having a field day by accusing the council of not having any reserves. Paul Brant, the deputy opposition leader said that any wise authority would always have extra funds to cater for unexpected expenditure. He accused the administration of not managing the finances properly. He added that just because the council has not bothered to create sufficient reserves, the residents will be forced to part with their hard earned money. This is the type of situation, when the residents would have expected their council to help them with their own rising energy bills.