LIVE – Energy crisis: “The new threshold for the renegotiation of electricity supply contracts is 280 euros per megawatt hour on average in 2023”, announces Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire.

19:05 pm: “The new threshold for the renegotiation of electricity supply contracts is 280 euros per megawatt hour on average in 2023,” said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. This level, which should benefit 600,000 VSEs, was set this Friday afternoon during a meeting between energy companies and the government in Bercy.

4:14 p.m.: Here is the full press release from TotalÉnergies Electricity:

TotalEnergies entered the electricity market in 2017 with the ambition to become an integrated player from generation to distribution. TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France thus sell electricity to 5.7 million sites and have a generation park of 2.6 GW of gas-fired power plants in France and a 1.5 GW renewable energy park that accounts for only a portion of its sales and supplies it to the wholesale market. does. .

TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France had to factor in the cost of this supply, which could reach record levels of over 1,000 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) in offers to professional customers between August and November 2022.

TotalEnergies also notes that new taxes (taxation of inframarginal rents) have been imposed on the results of electricity generation activities under the latest fiscal law, which prevents its integrated generation and distribution of electricity from reaching financial equilibrium in 2022.

Aware of the huge impact of electricity prices on the economic activity of VSEs and for the sake of national solidarity, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France want to mobilize to help face the challenges posed by this unprecedented energy crisis.

Given the drop in electricity prices at the beginning of 2023, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France will publish on Monday an update of the Horizon electricity tariff table, which will take into account the latest drop in electricity prices. , excluding 320 euros. tax per megawatt hour (MWh).

In addition, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France are ready for tariff changes with VSEs (companies with an annual turnover or balance sheet of less than 2 million euros and less than 10 employees) who sign a Horizon agreement between August 1 and November 30, 2022. TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France propose to reduce these contracts to an average annual price of €320 per MWh including VAT, after taking into account the amortization mechanism applied by public authorities in favor of VSEs. Hence, these VSEs will benefit from a rate equivalent to the Horizon rate offered from January 2023. The relevant VSEs who request it will benefit from these new tariffs with retroactive effect from the date of implementation of the contracts.

In order to implement these proposals, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France are ready to engage in a constructive dialogue with public authorities to identify mechanisms that allow them to respond to the requests of both VSEs and integrated or non-integrated electricity suppliers. their activity on production and distribution of electricity under economically favorable conditions.

16:09: A meeting with energy suppliers is scheduled for the afternoon between Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and his energy transition counterpart Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

16:08: “Aware of the great impact of electricity prices on the economic activity of the VSEs and for the sake of national solidarity, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France want to mobilize to help them overcome the challenges caused by this energy crisis. Unprecedented,” the French group said in a statement.

“To implement these proposals, TotalEnergies Electricity and Gaz France are committed to a constructive dialogue with public authorities to identify mechanisms that allow them to respond to the requests of both VSEs and electricity suppliers. they should carry out their activities on the production and distribution of electricity in economically favorable conditions”, he also emphasizes.

It should be recalled that, faced with numerous warnings from artisans, especially bakers, about the explosion of electricity bills, Emmanuel Macron on Thursday asked for a renegotiation of the “excessive” contracts concluded between energy suppliers and VSEs. 280 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).

15:42: TotalÉnergies Électricité et Gaz France is proposing to reduce VSE contracts to an average annual price of €320 per MWh excluding VAT to “take into account the recent decline in electricity prices” and also to apply these new rates to recently signed contracts. .

The energy company also called for a dialogue with government authorities to ensure the viability of its activities as a gas and electricity supplier.

“No bankruptcy wall”: Faced with rising energy prices, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday dismissed the possibility of an explosion in the number of companies that will be forced to close the door.

“There is an explosion in electricity and gas prices that is difficult for thousands of entrepreneurs to survive, but they are coping,” said the government’s number two in France’s Inter.

“It is difficult, we support them, but I will not allow to say that this will be accompanied by a wave of closures, bankruptcies, because it is not so,” he insisted, the day after the announcement of specific support measures. for bakers.

“Today, less than 1% of entrepreneurs plan to close or slow down their production,” said Bruno Le Maire, based on INSEE figures.

According to the latest job survey by the National Institute for Statistics, which specifically surveys industrial companies, the total decline in their output “directly related to the increase in energy prices” will be about 1.5%.

In its latest survey published at the end of October, the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises, for its part, suggests that 9% of VSE/SME managers are “considering shutting down due to rising energy prices”. A figure that the government “contested”, Bruno Le Maire pointed out.

“You can cite Duralex or William Sauri,” two companies that recently announced they were shutting down or partially shutting down because of exploding energy costs, “but you won’t find hundreds of examples,” Bruno added. Le Maire.

According to INSEE, despite energy price inflation of more than 15% from December 2021 to December 2022, “there are few companies that have really suffered greatly in the face of the explosion in electricity prices and suddenly shut down or slowed down their activity. it shows,” said the minister.

As for the 33,000 bakers in France, for example, there are “several hundred bakers who are in real difficulty and therefore in need” of the support measures the executive announced on Tuesday.

More broadly, Bruno Le Maire said, “There are thirty times fewer partial action schemes at the end of 2022 than at the beginning of 2022.”

The number of applications for partial activity (general entitlement) approved by the administration rose from 40,073 in January 2022 to 1,382 in November, according to government figures provided to AFP.

Regarding long-term partial activity, which aims to protect employment in companies facing reductions in activity due to a temporary shock (for example, a pandemic), the number of approved permits increased from 1,496 in January 2022 to 385 in November.