Gasoline prices, toll prices, inflation: everything is increasing and purchasing power is gradually gaining ground in the presidential campaign. Enough to provide TotalEnergies with a good communication window this Wednesday on the eve of the publication of its profits for 2021, which promise to be stratospheric (15 billion euros) due to the rise in crude oil.
The CEO of the group, Patrick Pouyanné, was therefore able to announce quietly that Total was going to pay 100 euros to its most precarious customers, or, according to his estimate, 200,000 people. It will be a “discount on their bill”. With the “inflation check”, “the government had given them 100 euros, we are doubling the check”, he welcomed on RTL. Households that have already benefited from government “energy vouchers” in 2021 will benefit.
All the more peaceful since TotalEnergies announced last week that the 5% discount on the price of the kilowatt-hour excluding tax would end at the end of February: the amount corresponding to this -5% becomes a fixed reduction, regardless of the evolution of the regulated tariff. This should cause subscriber households to lose money if prices continue to rise.
The liter of diesel at 1.6854 euro
Another measure announced on Wednesday, Total will make a discount in the group’s service stations located in rural areas (Pouyanné mentions a figure of 1,150 stations): “At the register [les clients] will see a deduction of 5 euros for 50 litres, 2 euros for 20 litres.” The measure is expected to last three months, starting Monday. These two measures “represent a contribution of approximately 50 million euros, equivalent to 30% of the margin of the gas, electricity and fuel supply activities in France”the group said.
“TotalEnergies, aware of the indecency of the profits of 15 billion euros that it is about to announce tomorrow at a time when so many French people are suffering in the face of record prices at the pump, has finally just made small gestures for consumers. », mocks MP Matthieu Orphelin in a press release.
The prices of road fuels sold in France continued to climb to new records last week, fueled by the rise in crude oil prices: the liter of diesel reached 1.6854 euros on average and that of super SP95 1.7654 euros .
British groups BP and Shell have already announced big profits, prompting calls for an exceptional tax on the oil giants to help low-income households pay their energy bills.
Announced in October, the inflation allowance has not yet been paid to all households and already it may not be enough. Because since the government’s decision to grant these 100 euros to 38 million people whose monthly salary is less than 2,000 euros net, prices have continued to rise. Inflation reached 2.8% in December over one year. And should continue to climb in 2022.