French public swimming pools forced to close due to soaring electricity costs
The company Vert-Marine, which runs a network of 80 public swimming pools across France says it has chosen to close 30 of them until further notice as they are not economically viable.The company cited rising electricity costs as the reason behind the closures.
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In a statement, the company of 2,000 employees based in Normandy, explained that the price of the megawatt/hour has multiplied by 10 since January.
"If this increase were impacted on the price of the entry ticket, the price would have to be multiplied by three, and go from 5 to 15 euros for a resident of the town," the company said in a statement.
The French president Emmanuel Macron last week held a special defence meeting with cabinet ministers to devise a strategy to deal with the looming energy crisis brought about by the war in Ukraine.
Prime minister Elisabeth Borne also reiterated the need for all companies and public services to find ways of saving energy ahead of the winter.
France is hoping to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent by 2024.
No longer acceptable
The director of Vert-Marine, Thierry Chaix, says he chose to take an emergency measure to prompt a discussion to find a solution such as "attaching pools to the contract of the communities, which receive the energy cheaper than us".
"We need to explain to them why it has to stop: the cost is no longer acceptable and we can no longer pass it on," Chaix told France Info on Monday, adding any subscriptions taken out before the decision to close will be reimbursed.
Meanwhile, in Meudon, just west of Paris, regular clients explain why the closure of the pool is such a blow.
Gabriel comes to swim for an hour and a half every week to relieve his shoulder. "25 lengths does me a lot of good: I'm very disappointed not to be able to train. And I think there are a lot of people like me."
The pool caters for an average of ten thousand people per month of all ages.
"It’s pretty crazy to think that we are closing public places," Alice, a student says, indicating that the situation will only get worse this winter.
"These closures directly impact all children and adults who won't be able to learn to swim," the French Swimming Federation (FFN) said in a statement, demanding the pools' "immediate" reopening.
Physical education union SNEP warned that pool closures during the coronavirus crisis meant there was already "a generation of 800,000 school pupils who were unable to learn to swim in 2020 and 2021".
"Balancing the books for private companies that manage some pools shouldn't come before the public interest," the SNEP said, highlighting swimming's "educational, health, leisure and safety benefits".
Legal challenge
Damien Texier, technical manager of the Meudon swimming pool, which has about fifteen employees says he feels abandoned.
"We were happy that it was back to welcoming school children, diving clubs, etc. But we find ourselves on part-time working and we don't know how long it will last," Texier told France Info, adding its no secret that pools are "black holes" when it comes to finances due to the high running costs for heating the water and so on.
"We do not have the means. We will not be able to make up for the deficit of this service provider," Francine Lucchini, deputy mayor in charge of sports in Meudon said.
We have a contract until 2025 with Vert-Marine, she added indicating that "the subject of breaking this contract before the end is in the hands of our lawyers. We will defend ourselves tooth and nail for [the sake of] our population."
The vice-president of the greater Limoges area, Fabien Doucet, also said he might take legal action against the Vert-Marine's Aquapolis Centre for breach of contract, denouncing a "hostage taking of users".
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