Rishi Sunak facing the heat over private pool in £2M mansion, here's what you need to know

Rishi Sunak’s energy consumption is under the spotlight as it was recently revealed that the heated swimming pool in his North Yorkshire residence uses so much energy that the local electricity network had to be upgraded in order to meet the demands.

The news of the PM’s heated 40ft pool comes at a time when a huge number of households in the country are trying to limit their energy expenditure to cope with soaring bills.

Grade II-listed manor house

It was recently reported that new equipment had to be installed in North Yorkshire to provide extra capacity from the National Grid for Sunak’s constituency home. It is understood that Sunak used his own personal wealth to pay for the building work - thought to be tens of thousands of pounds - that meant he could heat his private pool.

The Grade II-listed manor house is occupied at weekends by the PM and in addition to the pool, it has also recently had a gym and tennis court constructed in the grounds. Sunak responded to questions about being somewhat out of touch with voters by saying, as per The Guardian:

The important thing is what the government does to help people with energy bills. What I announced as chancellor is a windfall tax on energy companies, because the profits they’re making as a result of the war, I thought it was right that we tax those. We have used that money to help reduce people’s energy bills.

A report in The Guardian stated that it would cost more than £14,000 a year to heat the pool as energy prices have soared since the war in Ukraine.

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Portfolio of luxury properties

Sunak’s North Yorkshire constituency home is not his only property. The PM and his family also have a home in Kensington which features five bedrooms, four bathrooms and two reception rooms spread over four storeys and it also has its own private garden.

Sunak also owns a first-floor flat in Old Brompton Road, which he purchased in 2001 whilst working as an investment analyst for Goldman Sachs. It is reported that it acts as a holiday home for his visiting relatives.

In addition, the family own a Santa Monica penthouse purchased by Ms Murthy directly from the developer in 2014. The luxury property acts as a Californian holiday home and has views of the Pacific Ocean and is valued at £5.5million, as per Hull Live.

Sunak went on to state that is aware of the difficult financial situation many are in and is taking steps to combat it, as per The Guardian:

I absolutely understand that the number one challenge people are facing is with the cost of living and particularly energy bills.

So what do I do? We tax energy companies more, and we’ve used that money to reduce people’s energy bills by £1,000. That’s the actions of this government, the actions of me as prime minister and chancellor. I think people can see from that, that I do take this really seriously.

Read more:Outrage over Puffin's reedition of Roald Dahl books: This is how Rishi Sunak has reacted

Sources used:

- The Guardian 'Rishi Sunak has electricity grid upgraded to heat his private pool'

- Hull Live 'Rishi Sunak's £2m Yorkshire home with swimming pool and yoga studio'

- The Guardian 'Sunak ‘understands’ energy bill worries despite cost of heating his private pool'