"I wish it never came to this. But I have no other solution if I want to survive and pay my 43 employees. At the head of a company that raises and slaughters 220,000 chickens a month, Hervé Philippe, 53, strangled by the "uncontrolled" surge in electricity prices, has put back into service a generator that burns... 4,000 liters of heavy fuel oil per month!
While each company boasts of its slightest environmental progress, he, on the contrary, ensures that he has no choice but to "go against the meaning of history". "In 2021, I paid 82,000 euros for electricity. And, in June 2023, I am already at 76,000 to which must be added 20,000 euros of heavy fuel oil. My bill will at least triple this year, while we have consumed much less! And, in the end, I'm going to pay more for electricity than I make a profit... " he explains, without hiding the anxiety that undermines him.
"But what are we waiting for to take into account our situation?"
"So we have this generator that runs all day on weekdays and a second one that we will set up. It allows me to at least save a few thousand euros. However, the future remains uncertain. To the point that the manager has also decided to change his breeding conditions.
"Until then, chickens were produced in 120 days that allowed them to fatten up quietly. We are forced to reduce this time to 90 days. Because the cost of energy has also caused the prices of food or cartons to soar. I ask suppliers to smooth out our deadlines. But what are we waiting for to take into account our situation? That all my employees find themselves on the sidelines with what it will cost the taxpayer at that time? I want to fight, but frankly, I feel forgotten and it's so hard that I really thought the worst. But I'm a fighter, so we keep going... »