“We had to announce our closure due to unpayable electricity bills.
Since four days ago, we discovered that our monthly installment went from 1,860 euros to 11,000 euros”, an increase of 500%, laments Pascale Dumont, a baker in the Belgian village of Gedinne.
In this sector, where ovens, refrigerators and freezers are essential equipment, the surge in energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine came on top of a rise in the cost of raw materials (flour, oil, butter) .
Due to exorbitant bills, several bakeries are forced to shut down.
Belgium has joined 14 other EU countries in demanding that the European Commission cap the prices of all natural gas imports.
This subject will be at the heart of a meeting on Friday in Brussels of EU energy ministers.
