The continuous rise in the price of gas has negative consequences in many sectors, including funerals.
Because in France cremations (which are based on the use of gas) represent an increasingly important part of funeral rites. According to the specialized site Meilleurs Pompes Funèbres (MPF), they now represent 42% of funerals, compared to 32% in 2010.
A progression that we owe to its cost. Cremation has always been cheaper than burials, but this advantage is being diluted as the price of gasoline rises. Because the cost of this energy represents 15 to 25% of the average price of a cremation.
Gas represents 15 to 25% of the cost of a cremation
However, the price of natural gas in Europe is double in October than at the beginning of the year and has multiplied by 7 compared to the beginning of 2021 in the reference market, the Dutch TTF.
With gas prices at an all-time high and companies currently renewing their contracts with their gas suppliers, a price increase seems inevitable.
And it will not be trivial according to MPF estimates, which is betting on an increase of 35% from next year for an average cremation price of 911 euros. While it was 605 euros in 2017 and 675 euros this year.
Funeral home Advitam also estimates cremation funerals could cost about 30% more next year.
For its part, one of the main groups of funeral directors, Funecap, confirms to AFP that “increases are expected” but that the amount is still unknown. Its main competitor, OGF, declined to comment.
“There is real concern about the issue in the sector,” Antony Fallourd, general director of the Funéplus funeral network, confirms to AFP, fearing that a sharp rise in prices will reinforce the bad image of certain funeral establishments, sometimes considered as “speculators of death”.
Municipalities could assume part of the increase
“If prices increase too much, it is not certain that families will be able to pay,” also warns Frédérique Plaisant, president of the French Cremation Federation, which brings together associations in favor of this mortuary rite.
He fears that this limits the choice of families between burial and cremation, when it is a “profound choice” linked to the convictions of each one, and intends to arrest the National Funeral Ethics Commission (CNEF) on this issue.
In practice, the decision to increase the price of cremations can only be taken on a case-by-case basis by municipalities that have a crematorium: they treat it directly or entrust the management to a private service provider.
Therefore, rather than burdening bereaved families with increased costs, some may decide to make arrangements with service providers to reduce, for example, the “public domain royalty,” an amount that they pay municipalities to operate the crematorium, or by directly subsidizing cremations.
Break the equality of citizens in the face of death
Price increases will also depend on the situation of each crematorium. According to Charles Simpson, author of the study Best Funeral Directors, they could be more important for those managed by independent service providers than by large groups, because the latter negotiate their energy contracts more easily and, therefore, are less exposed to the increase. of costs.
Funecap also promises that its price increases “will only partially reflect the increase in the cost of supply” and already plans to adapt the way it works to consume less energy.
For Frédérique Plaisant, a solution at the national level would be preferable to avoid “a breakdown of the equality of citizens in the face of death”. She therefore calls on the State to intervene and for gas suppliers to move, lowering the prices of crematoria.
Source: BFM TV
