The announcement, which surprised many, was made on Sunday evening on the Facebook page of the “Aquavabre” swimming pool in Brignoles. In a press release, the manager of the equipment, the company Vert Marine warns that he has no other choice at present but to close the swimming pool because “of the energy crisis“.”The increases in the cost of energy that we are all experiencing no longer allow us today to manage equipment in an economically balanced and socially sustainable way and thus to carry out our public service missions”.
– Luc Chemla
The price per megawatt/hour multiplied by 10 since January
The company, based in Normandy, explains that the price per megawatt/hour has multiplied by 10 since January. To support the costs, it would be necessary, according to her, to multiply the entrance price of the swimming pools by three. The energy bill of this public service delegate has gone from “15 to 100 million euros“, that is “the total annual turnover of the company“. Vert Marine, which has 2,000 employees and manages around 80 swimming pools throughout France, including that of Brignoles, therefore preferred to close the equipment temporarily. Subscriptions taken out before the decision to close will be reimbursed, assures the boss of Vert Marine to our colleagues from France Bleu Normandie.
Thirty swimming pools closed throughout France
About 10% of 4,000 French public swimming pools are managed via a public service delegation and not directly by the community where it is located. Often heated by gas, swimming pools are very energy-intensive equipment and bear the full brunt of rising prices. In total, around thirty equipment managed by Vert-Marine are closed until further notice, in particular in the Landes, in the Tarn-et-Garonne, in Haute-Vienne, in the Yvelines, in the Hauts-de-Seine … The personnel is placed in partial unemployment.
“It’s not up to us to suffer”
In Brignoles this decision surprises many, especially since no one expected it, in particular Nathalie, who drove 30 minutes on Monday morning especially to come and do lengths. “I am very disappointed, they should have announced it a week in advance, so that we could organize ourselves.” The timing also bothers David, a Brignolais. “We should have anticipated the thing, I think it was already possible before knowing that there was going to be the increase.” David is the father of a 7-year-old boy, this decision worries him. “For my son, it’s going to be a bit dramatic because well, we are told at school that they absolutely have to learn to swim and then everything is closed.”
The argument of the explosion in the cost of energy does not convince everyone in Brignoles. “I don’t understand at all. It’s true that the cost of energy is increasing but from there to drastically closing all of a sudden, they should try to stagger the costs“; “Already we suffer from it at home on the heatings, after the rest, we do not have to suffer from it.“Others, however, are understanding and accept the decision.
Vert Marine appeals to the government
Faced with this situation, Vert-Marine appeals in this way “to local and governmental authorities in order to take the necessary and unprecedented decisions to return to bearable energy costs and to allow public service obligations to be assumed, and in the first place learning to swim, particularly in schools“. Of the 90 swimming pools and ice rinks it manages, some delegation contracts do not include the cost of energy.