Bakers, hit hard by inflation, will be able to terminate their energy supply contract free of charge in the event of a “prohibitive” price increase and insofar as it “threatens the survival of the company”, announced Tuesday the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire. This “exceptional” measure, which exclusively targets bakers, will be applied “on a case-by-case basis” by energy companies, warned the number 2 of the government after a meeting at the ministry with electricity and gas suppliers.
It is primarily aimed at craftsmen who suffer the “double penalty” of the rise in the price of energy and raw materials, such as wheat.
Suppliers apply a charter signed in October
The suppliers present at the meeting on Tuesday – EDF, Engie, TotalEnergies but also Anode, which represents energy companies other than the former monopolies – also undertook to fully apply a charter which they signed in October and which the bakers and Bruno The Mayor accuses them of not respecting. “Those who do not commit, in the coming days, to enforcing it will see their name disclosed publicly,” threatened the minister.
The government has also required energy suppliers to show more clearly on their customers’ bills the discounts they benefit from under the “electricity buffer”, a support mechanism put in place in the fall and which consists for the executive to bear part of the energy costs. “All the suppliers have undertaken to include in the January invoice, which will arrive in February, the benefit of the shock absorber”, affirmed Bruno Le Maire.
Finally, they have all “undertaken to offer payment facilities to SMEs and VSEs”, he added. In the morning, the government had already announced that small businesses, and in particular bakeries, could benefit from a deferral of social and tax charges to preserve their cash flow, as well as a staggering of the payment of their invoices.