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Energy companies summoned to Bercy this Wednesday to offer better prices to SMEs

2022-10-04T18:14:40.568Z


Last week, the Minister of the Economy accused TotalEnergies, Engie and EDF of not "playing the game with their customers, especially SMEs".


The government intends to call energy suppliers to order, meeting in Bercy this Wednesday morning.

They are accused of not "

playing the game enough

", by inflating the prices offered to SMEs despite an initial agreement in Brussels to reduce bills in the face of galloping inflation.

"

I think that today [energy suppliers] do not sufficiently play the game with their customers, in particular SMEs

", affirmed a few days before this meeting the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, directly mentioning TotalEnergies, Engie and EDF.

The purpose of the call, which will begin at 8:15 a.m., is to guarantee “

reasonable prices

” through additional commitments from energy suppliers.

The latter “

must commit alongside the State to help all customers, businesses and local authorities, to get through this unprecedented crisis

”, we specify in the office of the Minister for Energy Transition.

Read alsoThe energy crisis rekindles the fear of bankruptcies

"

There are customers who have difficulty finding affordable offers

" while "a

lot of contracts are being renewed

" at the end of the year, reacted the general manager of Engie, Catherine MacGregor, confirming the presence of her group at the meeting and ensuring work to

"find solutions in a very constructive spirit"

.

TotalEnergies also confirmed that its teams would go to Bercy on Wednesday “

to meet the government and discuss this subject

”.

Same for EDF, whose renationalization process was launched on Tuesday evening.

Reasonable prices and conditions

The government wants to create “

better quality

” and

“more protective

” conditions by acting at the national level, in addition to the ongoing negotiations at the European level, explained Agnès Pannier-Runacher in Brussels.

The Ministers of Energy of the 27 agreed on measures consisting in recovering part of the

“superprofits”

of energy producers to redistribute them to consumers and to reduce the demand for electricity at peak times.

In France, the government will therefore offer companies a "

charter

" by which they will undertake to "

provide all French SMEs with reasonable electricity and energy tariffs, within a reasonable time frame, with reasonable conditions

" and in particular "

the possibility of revision

", according to Bruno Le Maire.

The Minister also insisted on

“the possibility for the company to examine the contract”

without having

“the knife in the throat”

.

Concretely, the Minister Delegate for SMEs, Olivia Grégoire, intends to ask energy suppliers to give VSEs-SMEs a deadline to pay the bills, as during the health crisis.

Economic concerns

The rise in prices, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, slowed in France in September, but remained at the high level of 5.6% over one year.

Economists see this moreover as a sham effect, with the planned drop in the rebate on fuel prices.

The European employers' organization BusinessEurope had warned 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"

.

Read alsoIs the energy crisis threatening the ski season?

In question: SMEs are offered “

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 on Friday.

"

It's not acceptable

," he said.

If a new contract "

shows an incomprehensible rise

"

,

"

don't sign!"

“, hammered Ms. Grégoire to the address of the entrepreneurs.

An observation on which the president of the Energy Regulation Commission does not necessarily agree.

"

If you are around 400 and 500 euros per megawatt hour for a year, that's about the market price and there is no reason to wait, then you sign

",

Households and the smallest businesses eligible for regulated tariffs are covered by the “

tariff shield

”, extended until 2023 and limiting the increase in electricity and gas tariffs to 15%.

But larger SMEs are more directly exposed to soaring prices.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-10-04

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