Planned work at Saltdean Lido was halted last month after it was found an old substation had been removed.
Campaigners asked Brighton council to lend them £70,000 for a new one but the council said it would lend £10,000.
Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company (CIC) had wanted to avoid fundraising delays to the work, but is now selling bricks for a Wall of Fame.
People can pay to adopt bricks which will feature their message or name on the wall to be built early next year.
Spokeswoman Bridget Fishleigh said the old substation had mysteriously vanished and no-one could account for its disappearance.
She said campaigners could find no photographs to prove it was ever there but they did find cables.
They have said the lido will remain a building site until money is found.
The CIC has raised £2.8m in grants and is working on a £4.8m lottery bid but Ms Fishleigh said allocated funds could not be reallocated under grant procedures.
"We're reaching out to our supporters to help us with this because without power we wouldn't be able to test the pool and we certainly wouldn't be able to run it," she said.
The Wall of Fame will have 2,500 bricks and campaigners are urging people to buy them as Christmas presents.
A fundraising campaign has begun to try to revive plans to restore a Grade II* listed lido.