“Too few companies are aware of the existing aid systems”, according to Olivia Grégoire, the Minister Delegate for SMEs.
Only just under 500 companies have benefited at this stage from the one-stop system allowing them to receive public aid in the face of soaring energy bills, the Ministry of SMEs said on Monday. “Since the opening of the counter last July, approximately 65 million euros have been paid via the counter“, specified the office of the Minister Delegate for SMEs Olivia Grégoire, while 12 billion euros are budgeted in 2023 for all the energy aid systems.
Counter assists went to “just under 500 companies, in a context where many contracts were renewed on January 1» and for which the disbursement has therefore not yet taken place, we justified from the same source to explain that they were so little solicited last year. To benefit from theticket office», a company must have an energy bill that has increased by at least 50% in one year over a period of two months and this bill must represent at least 3% of its turnover.
SEE ALSO – Energy crisis: “The State has chosen households at the expense of companies”
Read alsoSingle window for companies: investigation opened after a computer attack
From January 1, theticket office» can be combined with «the electricity damperwhich covers 15% to 20% of the electricity bill for SMEs (between 10 and 249 employees) for which electricity is billed between 180 and 500 euros per megawatt hour. “The main difficulty is that too few companies are aware of the existing support systems“, acknowledged Olivia Grégoire during a telephone press briefing, adding that the government’s objective was to”make known to SMEs the existing systems“. “All of the CMAs (Chambers of Trades and Crafts) have set up phoning campaigns (telephone calls) for the past 8 to 10 days and are in the process of calling the VSEs in their department“, she added.
SEE ALSO – Pensions: the battle of opinion