British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has upgraded the local electricity grid in an area of North Yorkshire to cope with the high energy consumption of his private swimming pool, which has a heating system, The Guardian reports.
British Prime Minister Rishi SunakPhoto: Leon Neal / AFP / Profimedia Images
As many Britons face rising electricity bills and try to limit their energy consumption, extra equipment was recently installed in an area of North Yorkshire to provide extra capacity from the national grid to the Prime Minister’s residence there .
The improvements came after the construction of a new heated pool, gym and tennis court at the residence where Sunak stays on weekends. Engineers had to install a substantial amount of equipment and a new connection to the national grid that crosses open fields.
Sunak will personally cover the cost of the electrical network upgrade work – likely to be tens of thousands of pounds – in addition to the cost of the pool’s energy consumption.
Construction work on Sunak’s 12-metre (40 ft) private pool has been completed as many public pools, including in his local area, are forced to curtail their hours due to rising energy costs. The House of Commons culture committee has called on the government to provide extra help to swimming pools in the upcoming budget, suggesting that 350 swimming pools have closed or reduced their hours as a result of energy costs.
Sunak’s constituency residence is an imposing mansion with large gardens and a private lake.
Sunak’s new pool was built on agricultural land that until recently was used for grazing.
According to The Guardian, it appears that Sunak paid for the work at the residence from personal funds and there is no suggestion that he used his status to receive preferential treatment from Northern Powergrid. Developers and companies often pay for local network upgrades when they build new buildings.
