Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Friday asked energy suppliers to make additional efforts to guarantee "
reasonable prices
" for SMEs, accusing them of not "
playing the game
" enough, adding that he intends to bring them together on Wednesday next in Bercy.
"
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.
This is why “
we will bring together, with Agnès Pannier-Runacher next Wednesday at 8.30 a.m., 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
”.
Read alsoBruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal present a budget already criticized from all sides
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.
At the same time, European energy ministers are meeting on Friday to try to approve emergency measures to stem the rise in gas and electricity prices and deal with the risks of social crisis and bankruptcies. businesses as winter approaches.
Meeting in Brussels, the ministers of the 27 should validate proposals presented in mid-September 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.
SEE ALSO -
Bruno Le Maire announces that "inflation will remain at a high level" in the coming months, "around 6%"
