The government intends to call to order the energy suppliers accused of not “playing the game enough” by inflating the prices offered to companies, especially SMEs.
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It is a much-awaited meeting when it comes to renewing the contracts of small and medium-sized enterprises. The Minister of the Economy is meeting on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, in Bercy, with energy suppliers to have them sign a charter in order to further control the rise in electricity and gas prices imposed on companies. Some small bosses can’t sleep any longer, like this Norman miller, whose next electricity contract promises him bills five times higher than last year.
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Boss of the Moulin d’Auguste in Andelys, not far from a bend in the Seine, in the Eure, Sébastien Dutacq has his mind tortured by the expiry of his electricity contract on November 30. His current supplier, TotalEnergies, made him no offer this summer, and after a month of unsuccessful research, only one supplier responded. “Only EDF responded to offer me an offer whose annual budget for one month would be multiplied by five. I would go from 58,000 euros to 279,000 euros in annual electricity“, he describes.
An invoice impossible to pay for this company of 14 employees with a turnover of four million euros. She is already faced with rising prices for wheat, paper for flour bags and diesel for deliveries. Sebastien Dutacq therefore refused this offer. “As things stand, I don’t have an alternative solution at the moment. It’s absolutely scary and stressful for a business leader. Our business is to restock our bakery customers, so we can’t stop“, confides the craftsman. He hurries to stock up on flour, before risking a power cut.
All energy companies must now sign a “code of conduct“, as hoped by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. Bercy indeed wishes to create “better conditions” and “more protective” acting “on a national level“, in addition to the ongoing negotiations at European level, explained Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition. Her European counterparts agreed last Friday in Brussels on measures consisting in recovering part of the “superprofits” of energy producers. energy to redistribute it to consumers and to reduce the demand for electricity during peak hours.