• With the war in Ukraine and the stoppage of Russian gas imports, the price of gas in France rose sharply.

  • While this has a strong impact on certain areas of activity, such as bakers, it is also the case, to a lesser extent, for crematoriums.

  • Indeed, the cost of energy is only a small part of the price of a cremation service.

It is a deplorable fact, the energy crisis weighs heavily on the budgets of individuals, professionals and communities.

To save money, we turn off the lights, lower the heating, do our laundry at night, use our car less… So many restrictive measures for our little comfort, of course, but all in all beneficial for the environment.

Except that, for some, the increase in energy prices is far more dramatic.

We saw it with bakers, for example, forced to cut their ovens to avoid indecent bills.

In another register, crematoriums, ovens are also used.

But the impact of the price of gas, if it is very real, plays very little on the prices of services.

If we are not equal in life, we are sometimes even less so in death.

At least, in the performances that surround death.

There is a disparity in this area that continues to make consumer associations jump.

“Tariff yoyos” as denounced in 2019 by the UFC Que Choisir, even for “standardized services”.

Less expensive than burial, cremation is not spared from fluctuations in the prices offered.

Up to 80% more expensive for the same service

According to the prices collected by

20 Minutes

, the cremation of an adult costs on average 600 euros.

Looking more closely, we get 515 euros in Lille, 536 euros in Dijon, 711 euros in Brest, 762 euros in Chambéry and 936 euros in Ajaccio.

For the cremation of a child, aged between 1 and 12, we go from a free service in Dijon to a price of 400 euros in Brest, or even 478 euros in Ajaccio.

And, in the vast majority of cases, the fee schedules are updated at the start of each year.

In Paris, according to our calculations, the price of the cremation of an adult has increased by 7% between 2021 and 2022, going from 571 to 611 euros.

Same increase in Lille, but between 2020 and 2023.



According to Patrick Lerognon, secretary general of the Union du pole funéraire public (UPFP), the energy bill for crematoriums is not the primary cause: "The price of gas for an incineration only represents, on average, 35 euros for a overall average price of 650 euros, ”he says.

This applies to today, "because the old gas contracts of these establishments are still running," he adds.

Suddenly, even if the gas bill were to double, the impact on the price of a cremation “would not change much in the price”.

We should not look for electricity, this energy being very rarely used to operate the ovens of crematoriums.

In fact, most of the amount invoiced for a cremation is used to pay charges: "Personnel, depreciation of buildings, maintenance...", lists the professional.

One of the highest expense items is the treatment of fumes.

The new anti-pollution standards require crematoriums to equip themselves with very efficient, but also very expensive, filtration systems.

“Today, the filtration system costs on average the price of the oven.

That adds up to 600,000 euros, ”estimates Patrick Lerognon.

For example, to bring its crematorium in Vendin-le-Vieil up to standard, the Lens-Liévin urban community has invested nearly 2 million euros, including one million for the "filtration workshop" alone. ".

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  • Energy

  • energy crisis

  • Funeral

  • Gas

  • Undertakers

  • Company