Energy suppliers will have to submit to a “code of conduct”.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Friday asked energy companies to make additional efforts to guarantee “reasonable prices” for SMEs.
"I think that today (energy suppliers) do not play the game enough with their customers, especially SMEs," he said on Europe 1, directly quoting TotalEnergies, Engie and EDF.
.@BrunoLeMaire speaks on energy prices: "energy suppliers must play the game under reasonable conditions with reasonable deadlines" on #Europe1 pic.twitter.com/lnO3q1fGyv
– Europe 1 🎧🌍📻 (@Europe1) September 30, 2022
This is why “we will bring together, with Agnès Pannier-Runacher next Wednesday at 8:30 am, all the energy companies to ask them to sign a code of conduct”, continued the minister.
The companies will undertake to "provide all French SMEs with reasonable electricity and energy prices, within a reasonable time, with reasonable conditions" with in particular "the possibility of revision" if prices drop, according to Bruno The mayor.
He also insisted on “the possibility for the company to examine the contract without them having the knife under the throat”.
An “imminent risk” for “thousands of companies”
The European employers' organization BusinessEurope had warned on Thursday that the high prices of gas and electricity in Europe posed an "imminent risk" of "production losses" and "shutdowns of thousands of European companies".
Some energy suppliers offer SMEs "prices of the order of 600 or 700 euros per megawatt hour, where energy suppliers anticipate a price of 200 to 300 euros", accused Bruno Le Maire.
"This is not acceptable," he blasted.
The Minister also recalled the importance of acting at European level on the issue of energy.
In a forum he signed with his German counterpart for Les Échos, Bruno Le Maire announced an agreement with Germany to limit price increases.
The two powers have agreed to decouple the price of gas and electricity and have lower prices.
An agreement with Germany
"For the first time, Germany recognizes that the absolute priority is first of all to bring down market prices, which are soaring in a completely delirious way, with speculative movements which are unbearable for our fellow citizens and unbearable for businesses,” the minister said on Friday.
"The European Commission urgently needs to make concrete proposals in the coming days to bring prices down," he added.
EU energy ministers are meeting on Friday to try to approve emergency measures to stem soaring gas and electricity prices.
Ways will also be discussed to deal with the risks of social crisis and business bankruptcies as winter approaches.
Read alsoPrices of electricity and gas: how far will the increase in your bill go?
Meeting in Brussels, the ministers of the 27 should validate proposals presented by the European Commission, aimed at recovering part of the “superprofits” of energy producers to redistribute them to consumers, and reduce the demand for electricity.
But a majority of member states - 15, including France, Belgium, Italy and Spain - believe that the "most serious problem" must be tackled.
They are calling for a cap on wholesale gas prices on the European market.
