Who will pay the additional cost caused by the new aid to very small businesses (TPE) announced by Bercy on Friday January 6, to cope with soaring energy costs? At this stage, this additional cost remains impossible to quantify. Energy suppliers and the Ministry of the Economy must discuss this from the start of the week.
The device announced on Friday concerns companies with fewer than ten employees, achieving a turnover of two million euros at most, and which consume a lot of electricity because they have an oven, a rotisserie or a cold room, for example. By law, these companies do not have access to the regulated tariff.
Hard hit by soaring energy prices, the 600,000 companies concerned now know that they will not pay more than €280 per megawatt hour on average this year, if they have renewed their electricity contract between 1is July and December 31, 2022. This rate should be compared to wholesale prices on the French electricity market: contracts signed for delivery in one year were being negotiated on Friday January 6 at around €225 per megawatt hour. A tariff lower than the maximum guaranteed in the new system, but between June and December 2022 these wholesale prices were always above €400/MWh, with even a peak above €1,100/MWh at the end of August, compared to a historical average of around €50.
Distortions of competition
“This device is great news.greets Jean-Eudes du Mesnil du Buisson, general secretary of the CPME (confederation of SMEs). Even if this maximum tariff remains very high, it gives real visibility to the companies concerned. » This manager nevertheless points out two limits. First, “the risk of creating distortions of competition: a company with eleven employees working in the same territory and the same sector will not have access to the system even though it has a very similar profile to its competitor with less than ten employees”. The CPME is therefore asking for the scheme to be extended to all SMEs, ie up to 250 employees. At the risk, however, of displacing the threshold effects, which are inevitable when a measure is targeted at a specific category.
Second limit pointed out by Jean-Eudes du Mesnil du Buisson: “Only contracts signed between 1is July and December 31, 2022 will allow access to the new system. Companies that would have signed a contract at a rate higher than €280, but not in this specific period, also find themselves penalized. » He therefore asks for the possibility of being able to renegotiate these contracts. “This option was on the table last week, but we haven’t heard of it since Friday’s meeting,” he laments.
Several aids
At Bercy, we call back the other helpers. First there is the second version of the electricity damper. Effective since 1is January, it brings the average price (excluding distribution costs and taxes) down to €180/MWh for half of the volumes of electricity consumed. Bercy calculates that this should represent a saving of 20% of the bill for companies with less than 250 employees and 50 million euros in turnover.
In addition, there is a window on the tax website, allowing you to obtain up to 40% reduction in your bill. To qualify, energy must represent at least 3% of turnover with a doubling of the bill compared to the previous year or since the new contract. But despite efforts to simplify the administration, business leaders are struggling to navigate.
burden sharing
On the side of small energy suppliers, worried about the financial repercussions of the new aid system for VSEs, relief prevails. “Bercy understood that it was necessary to take into account the financial impact of the system in order to preserve the survival of small suppliers”, underlines Géry Lecerf, of Afieg (independent French association of electricity and gas). Same story for Julien Tchernia, boss of Ekwateur. “To avoid going out of business, each supplier will quantify the financial impact of this device and negotiate bilaterally with Bercy what it can reasonably cover. The sharing of the burden will be between the suppliers, according to their means, the State and the consumer. » According to Bercy, 80% of the companies concerned are customers of large suppliers – at EDF (50%), Total (15%) or Engie (15%).
Nevertheless, some fear a Pandora’s box. As of Thursday, the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR) warned: “We cannot help everyone. »
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Towards a guaranteed rate for condominiums?
Minister Delegate for Housing Olivier Klein announced on Sunday January 8 on radio J that a measure similar to aid for VSEs would be discussed for collective housing with gas and electricity suppliers. If these discussions were successful, it would go further than the current system, as it would allow more compensation for contracts signed in recent months at very high rates.