“We feel like we’re throwing our money out the window.”

During an extraordinary session on January 22, members of the Vineuil Municipal Council (Loire-et-Chair) heartily applauded the abandonment of the biomass boiler room in the Paradis district. Mayor Francois Fromet (Various Left) was relieved to end this public service delegation established in 2008 by a predecessor.

Its residents complained of high bills, late maintenance interventions and faulty heating due to water leaks on the network, which reduced flow. The boiler room was not good for anyone. “The structural deficit of the operator was so significant that it chose to divest completely”, the elected official explains. The deficit was 162,841 euros in 2009 and 645,588 euros for the year 2022 alone.

The Paradis subdivision is a maze of white houses and asphalt paths reclaimed from old farms. When the collective biomass boiler project was introduced in 2007, 300 households and a college were to benefit from energy savings of 30% compared to individual gas heating. Using wood as fuel – an ecological alternative to fossil fuel-powered counterparts such as fuel oil, gas or coal – new boiler rooms benefit from strong public subsidies.

Also read: Articles are reserved for our subscribers The energy transition: biomass, “green gold” under pressure.

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But in Vineville, the connection requires an additional cost of half a million euros compared to the planned budget. In 2012, the mayor authorized a representative to invoice subscribers for the depreciation and maintenance of their boilers. Their bills are increasing, while the service is deteriorating. A residential area in particular cannot be extended between colleges and some bourgeois houses: boiler rooms remain large.

“So there was the wind”

In the summer of 2024, a craftsman will come and install a heat pump for free at subdivision resident Rene Saulnier. The quote sits on the coffee table: 15,000 euros. The Dalkia Company will pay compensation for the demolition of its boiler room. “It seems that the pump is noisy. It worries all of us here a bit.”, he emphasizes. In 2023, this pensioner paid 1,300 euros for heating and hot water and 1,200 euros for electricity. He saw the boiler room as an identity. “I had the impression that we were participating in an environmental transition. It was the wind. »

A truck or two of shredded material appears every week at the entrance to the discreet black shed, flanked by lime trees that house the boiler room at the end of a housing estate. Its cargo is piled up, then mechanically pushed to the top of a large oven, a shiny machine controlled by a touch screen. Periodically, the compressor sends air to dust the boiler. The device suffocates. “I can’t see myself asking for a quote if it’s only going to be used for a few months”

Sighs a technician who comes to inspect it every morning.

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