Bakeries, and soon others? Friday January 6, the government decided to help very small businesses (TPE) to pay their electricity bills despite the end of “whatever it costs” announced by Bruno Le Maire after the confinements. If there “will not be a wall of bankruptcies”, had estimated the Minister of the Economy a few days earlier, he still decided to respond to the concerns of small structures, and in particular bakers. Other announcements could follow, the government said. Who is concerned ? The Express takes stock.
- Invoice capped for companies with less than 10 employees
In 2023, VSEs (less than ten employees) will pay a maximum of 280 euros per megawatt hour of electricity on average over the year. This is much more than the historic price, rather around 50 euros, but less than the 400 to 1,000 euros reached during the second half of 2022. This will avoid catastrophic increases for bakers, restaurateurs and other craftsmen . This measure concerns the approximately 600,000 structures which renewed their electricity supply contract in the second half of 2022 and which are not eligible for the regulated sales tariff, said Bercy.
- Ongoing discussions for condominiums
Two days after the announcement concerning VSEs, the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein, announced that a similar measure for collective housing would be discussed with gas and electricity suppliers. “It’s the same principle, we will work with the energy companies so that they have prices that are not unbearable for the condominiums, for the lessors”, he explained on Radio J this Sunday.
Social housing and condominiums are not affected by the gas and electricity tariff shield – capped tariffs. Specific aid was added during 2022 to fill the last 1 to 2% of collective contracts not covered by the tariff shield. There is no longer “any hole in the racket” for households, assured the minister, referring to collective electric heating or the charges for common areas. According to him, the shields will cover the year 2023, and will be retroactive: “where there have been excessive calls for charges, there will be regularizations of charges.”
- SMEs demand their share
Several professional organizations called on Saturday for an extension of the guaranteed electricity tariff to SMEs. “We would have liked all SMEs to be able to benefit from this capped tariff,” said Jean-Eudes du Mesnil, secretary general of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME), interviewed by AFP. According to him, this measure could create a distortion of competition between large VSEs and small SMEs that carry out the same activity.
President of the main employers’ union for the hotel and catering industry (Umih), chef Thierry Marx for his part affirmed that “this progress does not take into account all of our establishments”. “We ask that all our restaurants and all our hotels be able to benefit from this regulated rate,” he wrote in an open letter to Bruno Le Maire published Friday evening on the website of the Parisian. The leader still “welcomes” the measure announced Friday by the government.