Le Figaro Nantes
Faced with soaring energy prices, individuals are sometimes forced to forgo certain investments.
For communities, it's the same thing.
Illustration in the south of Nantes where the municipality of the commune of Bouaye (approximately 8500 inhabitants) has decided to postpone the construction of a school group.
This project was however presented as major.
To understand the situation, we must delve into the energy expenditure of the local authority.
"Our bill is divided as follows: a third for gas and the rest is electricity"
, presents Mayor Jacques Garreau.
For gas, the annual bill is around €80,000, or about 1% of the municipality's overall budget.
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Well, that was before prices soared.
Since then, the situation has been radically different.
“When we wanted to sign a new fixed-price contract with our supplier this summer, the price had increased by 1000%”
, still struggles to realize the city councilor.
In total, the contract would have been €800,000 per year.
What give cold sweats to the accounting officer of the municipality.
400% increase
The decision was then taken to wait for a possible drop in prices on the energy markets before signing a new contract and paying the bills now subject to monthly fluctuations.
“Except that we need stability to manage our budgets.
This is not a long-term solution”
, regrets Jacques Garreau.
The choice made this summer still seems to be the right one.
The price of gas has been falling lately.
It remains despite everything much higher than that of the previous contract signed by the town hall.
"We are now counting on an annual expenditure of 320,000 euros, an increase of 400%"
, indicates Jacques Garreau.
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A sum that weighs heavily on local finances.
The choice chosen to fit into the nails of the annual budget was therefore to ignore a school group project, estimated at six million euros, for which the loan made would have cost around €250,000 per year.
"Instead, I'm going to put this money to pay a gas bill
," laments the elected official.
To try to stop this negative spiral of energy prices, his municipality has chosen to join in 2024 the energy purchasing group initiated by Nantes Métropole.
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