Jacuzzis turned off and pool temperatures lowered as gyms face rising energy costs

Swimming Pool generic
Pools may feel cool when you get in them, but even maintaining that temperature can be costly. Credit: PA

Soaring energy costs have caused several gym franchises to lower their pool temperatures and switch off their jacuzzis in an attempt to rein in costs.

Despite a government scheme providing a discount to businesses for six months from October 1 as wholesale energy costs will be capped at "less than half" for non-domestic customers, it is not a solid cap.

Many gyms use large amounts of energy to keep their saunas, pools and jacuzzis warm throughout their opening hours.

Nuffield operates 114 fitness and wellbeing centres across the UK and announced earlier this week they would be turning off their 72 jacuzzis until spring.

A Nuffield Health spokesperson said: “Our gyms use a significant amount of energy and to meet rising costs we’ve made the decision to temporarily close our spa pools (jacuzzis) for the autumn and winter months as they are energy intensive."

Many gyms are being forced to cut back. Credit: PA
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They said doing this allowed them to keep their pools, steam rooms and other heated facilities operational.

The spokesperson also said their net-zero targets had factored into their decision to temporarily disable their jacuzzis.

Nuffield added that they may take more cost-saving measures if necessary.

Better Gyms, which operate 258 council-owned gyms, are also facing similar issues.

They said on Thursday they would be lowering the temperatures of the water and air in their pools by 1C on average but each site would be decided on a case-by-case basis.They said would listen to customer feedback but that so far no significant complaints had been raised.

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Peter Bundey, CEO of Greenwich Leisure Limited which owns the Better Gyms brand told ITV News his company was looking at other cost-saving measures.This included turning off more facilities at night, and introducing designated times the saunas would be accessible to customers.

Greenwich Leisure Limited is the largest operator of swimming pools in the UK, and many other businesses will be watching to see if their cost-saving measures are effective.

Duncan Bannatyne's health club businesses also tried recently to lower the temperature of their pools but reverted the measure after customer feedback.

The energy price cap for businesses will come into effect on Saturday for an initial period of six months.

It is expected to cost the government £40bn and be equivalent to a 50% discount for many firms.

But many businesses have seen their energy bills more than double in recent months and are looking anxiously at the coming winter.