While the energy crisis is raging, 49 companies and administrations have seen their bills explode because of an electricity supplier which has gone out of business, Hydroption. Among these public bodies are the firefighters of Paris, the National Assembly, the seaport of Marseille, as revealed by “L’Oeil du 20 heures” on France 2, Monday, September 26.
The Lyon-Saint Fons-Vénissieux Intermunicipal Nautical Center is one of these organizations concerned. It welcomes approximately 300,000 users each year and, to operate the Olympic pool, the small bath or the sauna, a large technical machinery operates in the basement. Out of an annual budget of 4 million euros, energy represents the swimming pool’s second largest expenditure item.
“All electrical expenses go here: air treatment, water treatment and also some lighting because pool lighting is mandatory in terms of safety”
Eugénie Gay-Montchamp, director of the CNI of Lyonto France 2
When the director received the bill a few months ago, it was a cold shower. His supplier, Hydroption, had told him an interesting price but in the meantime, he went bankrupt. She had to turn urgently to EDF at the market price. Result: it suffered from an increase of 112%, an additional cost of 180,000 euros.
The director had however trusted a central public purchasing agency: Ugap, the Union of Public Purchasing Groups. When a community (ministry, municipality, hospital) renews its energy contract, its fleet of vehicles or its IT equipment, it must launch a call for tenders. UGAP facilitates this process.
This time, Ugap directed 49 public entities to the electricity supplier Hydroption: the Paris fire brigade, Lyon 3 University, the seaport of Marseille, the National Assembly and even France Televisions. Hydroption was then in receivership. The central purchasing office knew this and awarded it the call for tenders anyway. When questioned, Ugap defends itself from any failure: “The public procurement code prohibits the exclusion of a candidate for reasons of receivership. One can imagine that it serves to protect SMEs which are going through difficult passages by having this shock absorber for access to public procurement”explains Philippe Tessier, director of the Energy and Environment department at UGAP.
“The public order code prohibits dismissing a candidate for reasons of receivership”
Philippe Tessier, Energy and Environment Project Director at Ugapto France 2
In any case, the rule did not save Hydroption, which went out of business in the fall of 2021.
In some communities, the additional cost will have consequences: in the North, the bill for the “Noréade” water authority has jumped by 10 million euros. This increase will have to be passed on in one way or another, by increasing the price of water for users, for example.
Another option considered: postpone certain projects, such as the construction of treatment plants. “In the municipalities, some of which have already been waiting for these investments for a few years, to say that there will be one or two years of additional delay, it is necessarily a disappointment”, laments Jean-Marc Lambin, deputy director of the Intercommunal Syndicate of Water Distribution and Sanitation of the North (Noréade). It is not certain that the person in charge will have recourse to Ugap again in the future. Several other local authorities are even considering turning to private purchasing groups.