Faced with the rise in energy prices in 2023 which weighs down their results, the ski resorts have called on Bercy to weigh “with all its weight” with energy distributors, including EDF, to return to “reasonable” prices. . (AFP/Archives/THIERRY ZOCCOLAN)
Faced with the rise in energy prices in 2023 which are weighing on their results, ski resorts called on Bercy on Thursday to weigh “with all its weight” with energy distributors, including EDF, to return to “reasonable” prices. “.
“We will ensure that each mountain municipality can have a fair renegotiation which allows it to assume its cost of electricity”, assured in response the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, recalling that EDF, “100% public, 100% at the service of citizens”, had to “respect its commitments”.
According to the National Association of Mountain Resort Mayors (ANMSM), “the sustainability of certain resorts is at stake”.
Before December 2022, the stations paid around 60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), the prices rose to 600 euros, according to figures from the ANMSM which includes around a hundred stations on five French massifs (Northern and Southern Alps , Jura, Massif Central, Pyrenees and Vosges).
“Bercy must exert all its weight on energy distributors, including EDF, and on European policy so that the price of energy is reasonable, that is to say with a ceiling price of 150 to 200 euros per megawatt hour (MWh)”, explained to AFP Jean-Luc Boch, mayor of La Plagne Tarentaise (Savoie) and president of the ANMSM, before the meeting.
For Pierre Vollaire, mayor of Orres (Hautes-Alpes) and vice-president of the ANMSM, “the methods used by EDF for 18 months to renegotiate contracts are unacceptable”. “We had to accept, before 5:00 p.m., proposals made on an Excel table, in the morning, on pain of seeing our power supply cut off and our rights to tariffs linked to historic nuclear power removed”, he said.
The question of energy costs was raised during a round table dedicated to “the economy of mountain tourism in a context of climate change” in the presence of the Minister.
Because in the long term, it is the whole future of the mountain which arises. “From 2050, 75% of French glaciers which culminate at less than 3,500 meters will have disappeared whatever the climate scenario (…), according to a study published in 2023”, recalled during the round table Christian Vincent, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE), research laboratory located in Grenoble (Isère), affiliated with the CNRS.
“The glaciers of the Alps have lost more than 50% of their surface and their volume since 1900”, according to this specialist.
For Bruno Le Maire, this “visible, tangible and dramatic warning message underlines the absolute need to accelerate the ecological transition”. The minister also hoped that local actors “manage to find a balance between enhancement (…) and preservation of the mountain”.
© 2023 AFP
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