Bathrooms struggle with high energy costs
Business
The high energy and electricity prices are increasingly becoming a problem for domestic pools and thermal baths. For smaller thermal baths, a tenfold increase in electricity prices for 2023 is no longer manageable.
In the Felsentherme in Bad Gastein, 5,000 kilowatt hours of electricity are consumed per day, i.e. as much as a household in six months. And that although the water is already gushing from the natural springs at 44 degrees. “We don’t need to heat up our pool, we cool our water to 34 degrees and we generate energy from this residual heat, which we have already used. But in times like these, of course, you want to get more out of it – also with the support of a PV system,” said Evelyn Lechner, Managing Director of the Felsentherme.
Sauna and attractions need a lot of electricity
Heat pumps use the energy in the water to heat other systems. The sauna area and the water attractions use the most electricity. “We have doubled the district heating, which we currently have to ‘swallow’ and compensate for, so we’re in the fortunate position that we’re not so heavily dependent and would like to expand that further,” says Lechner.
Do not pass on high costs to guests
With electricity, the price has increased tenfold, which will be in the house in 2023. That would mean an electricity bill of almost one million euros for the Felsentherme. In any case, they do not want to pass the high energy costs on to the bathers. Admission to the Felsentherme should be around five percent more expensive by the end of the year.
Houses are switched to energy-saving mode
In the Paracelsusbad in the city of Salzburg, the price of electricity for 2022 has already quadrupled. The building is brand new and energy efficient. The house is now continuously switched to power-saving mode. “We try to adjust the system in such a way that we save energy in places where the customer does not notice it. Be it to regulate the system down at night, to shut off or switch off certain areas that are not available to the customer, but also to adjust the switching times of the system,” said the manager of the Paracelsusbad, Sönke Eckl-Henningsen.
In the thermal baths, they claim political support – talks are already being held with the state about demands and price caps.
Thermal baths and baths high energy costs
Pools and thermal baths are increasingly struggling with high energy costs