The question of expanding the number of beneficiaries of the energy check will be debated in Parliament on the draft budget for 2023. This was indicated on Tuesday by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
This device, intended to mitigate the shock of energy inflation for the most modest households, is now perceived by "six million people" and its amount reaches an average of 150 euros, recalled the minister on BFM TV / RMC .
“Will parliamentarians decide that it has to affect more than 6 million people, that we have to go a little beyond?
It will be part of the discussion with parliamentarians when examining the budget, ”said the number 2 of the government, which only has a relative majority in the National Assembly.
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In line with remarks made this weekend by the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal, Bruno Le Maire confirmed that all French people would continue to benefit in 2023 from an attenuated form of "tariff shield" on gas prices and electricity.
“We are not going to build a gas plant: it will be the same principle for everyone,” guaranteed the minister.
At the beginning of 2023, “there will be an increase for everyone in the price of gas and electricity, which will be as contained as possible, to the extent that our public finances allow us”.
Since the fall of 2021, the "tariff shield" and government rebates on the price of fuel have cost 24 billion euros, according to a recent figure from Bercy.
Adjustment mechanism
"If there was not this protection, the electricity bill would increase in January 2023 by 120 euros per month and the gas bill by 180 euros per month", he added.
Asked about the possible "contribution" of energy operators who would make "undue profits" due to the inflation of energy prices, Bruno Le Maire insisted that this proposal made by France and Germany was not " neither the status quo nor an exceptional tax”.
“We are setting up a European market adjustment mechanism, we tell energy companies to invest in renewables, build solar panels, offshore wind farms, we guarantee the price, you will not lose money.
But if prices explode, they make billions of euros in profits, they give us back the overpayment, ”detailed Bruno Le Maire.
“This is what already exists in France” and the energy companies concerned should pay, according to him, eight billion euros in 2022 within the framework of this national mechanism.
As for companies that do not belong to the energy field, Bruno Le Maire “does not bury” the idea of “participation”.
Quoting the carrier CMA CGM, bankers or insurers, the Minister encouraged companies “which have the financial possibility of helping households in these difficult circumstances” to do so.
Otherwise "we will do the accounts at the end of the year", he once again warned.