Bruno Le Maire announces guaranteed electricity tariff for VSEs
The Minister of Economy said that companies with less than 10 employees will pay no more than 280 euros per megawatt hour in 2023.
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Lhe government met with electricity suppliers on Friday, January 6, to seek solutions to rising electricity prices that are affecting business costs. At the end of this meeting, Bruno Le Maire announced that very small enterprises (TPE) with less than 10 employees will benefit from a guaranteed electricity tariff set at an average of 280 euros per megawatt hour during 2023. .
After a week of meetings, arrests and speeches, the government decided that no VSE would pay more than 280 euros per megawatt hour on average this year, until Emmanuel Macron denounced the “excessive” prices on Thursday, forcing the hand of electricity sellers.
This guaranteed tariff, applicable from the January 2023 invoice, will be available in the second half of 2022 for VSEs who have renewed their electricity supply contract and do not benefit from the regulated feed-in tariff. Of the 2.1 million VSEs in France, 600,000 do not benefit from the regulated tariff as households, and according to government figures number two, this is even lower.
Government can share costs with suppliers
To benefit from the guaranteed rate, entrepreneurs must obtain a form from the tax website or the website of the electricity supplier and tick two boxes on the one hand indicating that they are actually running a very small business (fewer than ten employees and fewer employees). turnover of two million euros) and on the other hand they want to benefit from this assistance, which is open until December 31, 2023.
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At this stage, it remains impossible to quantify the extent of the commercial gesture by suppliers or the government’s effort to compensate for this guaranteed price. Bruno Le Maire assured that “we are continuing discussions on cost sharing” with suppliers. With this measure, the state rules out the possibility of thousands of individual renegotiations of electricity contracts between companies and suppliers that have been considered so far.
“The message of the President of the Republic was received five out of five” by the suppliers Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire greeted after a three-hour meeting with EDF in Bercy. , Engie or TotalEnergies. This average tariff for 2023 corresponds to the reference price published by the Energy Regulatory Commission. This should be compared to wholesale prices on the French electricity market: one-year delivery contracts were being negotiated on Friday at around €225 per megawatt hour. Between June and December 2022, they consistently exceeded €400/MWh, peaking at over €1,100/MWh at the end of August, against around €50 historically.
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Gas prices are not guaranteed
The guaranteed tariff announced on Friday applies only to electricity supply contracts, gas already existing assistance mechanisms (regulated tariff, help desk, etc.) taking into account, at an average annual price of 320 euros per MWh without tax” offered. state aid. With this measure, the state rules out the possibility of thousands of individual renegotiations of electricity contracts between companies and suppliers that have been considered so far.
The Union of Local Businesses (U2P), which represents artisans and the liberal professions, welcomed this, asking that “energy companies that impose abusive energy contracts on their customers must renegotiate them from January”. Bruno Le Maire explained that the whole point was to respond to the “feelings of injustice” of artists who had to renegotiate their contracts at the worst possible time between late August and early October 2022.
His colleague Olivia Grégoire admitted that “some smaller energy companies may find it difficult to sell at prices below the planned threshold”. Friday’s meeting at Bercy, the second this week, was to ensure that “those who buy too much don’t find themselves cash-strapped.”
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