The increase in the price of energy during the last year has been one of the obstacles for the Girona bakers, who have been forced to apply measures to cope with the bills. “The price of electricity, gas and firewood has increased, and this is noticeable”explains Àngels Segarra, manager of the Guild of Artisan Bakers of Girona.
“Some bakers have chosen to close their shops in the afternoons, which is when there is less sales and product volume in order to save energy,” reports Segarra. Others, with the increase in energy costs, have decided to optimize production. “Before, some producers didn’t always fill the oven, now they fill it to the maximum every time they use it to save money”says the manager of the Guild of Artisan Bakers of Girona.
At the moment, Segarra explains that there are practically no closures, despite the fact that the bakers “they are tightening their belts”however, the decline in sales and the high cost of energy and some raw materialswhich assures that they have come to increase their price one 60% in the last year, they complicate the viability of business. However, the Christmas campaign, with some products typical of this time of year, helps the sector financially.
Segarra explains that one of the problems with the cost of energy is that “you don’t know how much your bill will be at the end of the month, if they will 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 eurosdue to the variation in prices”. “This means that I cannot directly affect the price of energy costs because I do not know how much I will end up paying”he says.
The manager of the Guild of Artisan Bakers of Girona says that they have tried to reach an agreement with some electricity companies to set a price per kilowatt hour, although they have not succeeded. “We don’t have enough weight to reach an agreement. What we want is not to pay less, we want to be clear about what we will pay”, he says. Faced with the difficulties in reaching an agreement, Segarra considers that the only option is for all establishments in the food sector in Catalonia and even in Spain to agree to negotiate with the companies, although he admits that he is aware of the difficulties to be able to achieve it.
“We have been complaining since June”
Miguel Santiago Garcia has been working at the for 33 years Bread oven Lluïsa de Fig trees and has been the owner for almost a year. He explains that, in addition to high energy costs, he has had problems with his electricity company, Endesa, since last April. Since then, he reports that the electric company is making dear readings in his establishment that they are far above actual consumption. “They told me that they were not coming to do the reading because my establishment is in a conflicted place in Figueres and they said that they had to come with the police, when the water and gas authorities come here and, obviously, no one comes with the police”, says Santiago.
Last October 10, the company changed the meter “to be able to read online”, explain. Since then he says he has not received a bill, however, he says that by doing calculations with the actual reading and looking at the consumption since they changed the meter, he estimates that from April until now he has paid about 11,600 euros more.
«We have been making complaints to the company since June and they always give us a long time and there is no solutionwe have attached the actual readings to all these claims, but at the moment we have no answer”, says the owner of the oven.
He explains that his oven is made of wood, and, despite the fact that he has some machines in his establishment, the estimated readings “were exorbitant, far above the real one”. The owner has already submitted claims to Endesa, al County Council of theAlt Emporda and now to the Generalitat. “From the company they do not give explanations or justify that they can do a whole year of estimated reading”, he says.
This situation has caused the oven to suffer financial complications during these months. “The few benefits I have are taken away by Endesa”, he says.
“If the situation continues like this, I don’t know if I will be able to continue with the oven, I am very fair”concludes the owner of the Bread Oven Lluïsa de Figueres.