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Energy: the State will facilitate the signing of gas and electricity contracts for companies by providing a guarantee

2022-10-05T09:38:47.877Z


Summoned to Bercy on Wednesday, the suppliers agreed to make several commitments to try to protect the companies.


"

The main suppliers have agreed to sign the charter

", rejoiced Bruno Le Maire, this Wednesday during a press conference, following the meeting with the energy suppliers.

The government, in fact, wanted to call them to order.

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.

The government thus seems to have won its case, at least on certain points.

This charter proposed by the government includes three commitments: each supplier must offer at least one offer to these customers: “

Each company must have a credible offer

”, insists the Minister of the Economy.

Then, suppliers will have to notify their customers two months before the renewal of their contract.

This should allow companies to make comparisons and open up competition with other suppliers

”.

Finally, suppliers will have to submit an offer on a date agreed in advance.

Another way for the government to push companies to make comparisons between the different offers from suppliers.

The state guarantees

To help suppliers fulfill these commitments, the government will stand surety with suppliers for companies that cannot find any.

Faced with the risk of default, many companies cannot find suppliers.

We are going to provide a public guarantee to enable each company to obtain an energy contract.

It is a significant risk but it is the price to pay

”, explains the Minister of the Economy.

For its part, the government is considering doubling the ceiling for aid granted to large energy-consuming companies, which are now 2 million, 25 million and 50 million euros.

A “ gas and electricity

” aid

which has just been simplified and should still be, although it has been little used until now.

"

Since we simplified it, requests have increased and the device will be further simplified

", argues Bruno Le Maire.

An aid system whose envelope has so far been set at 3 billion euros.

It will probably cost more

,” he acknowledged.

To finance this aid, the government intends to rely on the redistribution of

» energy producers.

In fact, last Friday, the European energy ministers reached an agreement along these lines with the capping of revenues for electricity producers from nuclear and renewable sources (wind, solar, hydroelectric) which reap exceptional profits in selling their production at a price much higher than their production costs.

This ceiling is set at 180 euros per megawatt hour and the difference between this level and the wholesale market price must be recovered by the States to be redistributed.

Read alsoBruno Le Maire slams energy suppliers

This mechanism will be introduced "

in the coming days

" via a government amendment to the finance bill (PLF) for 2023, said Bruno Le Maire.

A device that should “

bring in 5 to 7 billion euros

”.

This meeting with energy suppliers then occurs, faced with soaring energy prices, many companies find themselves in difficulty.

We are faced with something worrying, companies will relocate to where energy is cheaper

,” warned this Wednesday on BFM Business, François Asselin, president of the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME).

He made a point of stressing that there were "

different business situations depending on the weight of energy in your turnover, we are not all as dependent on energy, but around 150,000 companies

" are dependent.

For the president of the CPME, the solution lies on the side of a price cap: “

We would like to have a price cap at European level to know how we are progressing.

We are completely in the dark

”.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-10-05

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