More and more bakeries, which are not under the protection of the tariff shield, are no longer able to pay their electricity bills, which have soared. And threaten to pass the costs on to the price of their products.
Their financial situation is increasingly untenable. While the energy crisis is affecting a good number of sectors which are seeing their gas and electricity bills increase, one of them is alerting to soaring costs: that of artisan bakers. According to the National Confederation of French Bakery and Pastry (CNBPF), “sif the price of energy is multiplied by three, the baker would have to increase his prices by 10 to 15% to keep his activity afloat; if it is multiplied by five, it would almost have to show an increase of 30%.»
Read also“I take it, but it’s windy”: in Leclerc’s 29-cent baguette, only the price seduces customers
Faced with this delicate equation, the government intends to take matters into its own hands. Guest of France Info on Friday, the Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Olivia Grégoire indicated that she will receive the representative organizations of bakers “next week to find solutions together.“For the member of the government, “more than 70% of our companies, our SMEs, our VSEs fully pass on the price of the energy increase to consumer goods.»
Read alsoThe “French baguette”, the art of exporting French souvenirs abroad
In addition to the surge in the cost of raw materials linked to the surge in inflation, some bakeries find themselves penalized by the absence of a price shield. Which ones? Signs that have a power meter above 36 kilovolt-amperes (KVA) do not fall within the scope. “80% of bakeries with less than 10 employees and less than 2 million euros in turnover are not covered by the tariff shield“, said Dominique Anract, president of the CNBPF at BFMBusiness at the start of the week.
No general extension of the tariff shield
You should know that 80% of bakeries are in this case. Consuming too much energy per employee, they cannot be under the protection of the government system. “On average, the power on the meter required for medium-sized bakeries (6 to 8 employees) is more around 72 KVA“, underlines the CNBPF. According to Olivia Grégoire, the government has put in place “a device with tight mesh» et «will widen the meshes of the net so that they (bakeries) fit inside.»
While the Minister readily acknowledges that the price of the baguette reaches 1.20 euros in places, Olivia Grégoire refuses to extend the price shield to all companies because this “would number in the tens of billions”. Another reason mentioned by the Minister of Bercy: the measure “would water SMEs or VSEs that do not necessarily need help.“Before adding that the executive wants to target and avoid doing anything and spending anyhow”. According to industry forecasts, the price of the baguette could rise further to 1.50 euros within a few months.