On this Epiphany day, Sunday 8 January, it was interesting to ask the opinion of artisan bakers and confectioners on the Government’s recently announced aid scheme to pay excessively high energy bills.
The government is trying to stem the effects of rising energy prices on small businesses. On Thursday 5 January, on the occasion of the traditional Elysee cake ceremony, Emmanuel Macron announced the establishment of a “tariff shield” for bakers-confectioners, limiting the price per megawatt hour (MWh) to an average of 280 euros and announcing possible deferrals of tariffs for artisans or traders in difficulty.
In front of every bakery offering pancakes this Sunday January 8, queues. On this Epiphany day, customers did not shy away from their pleasure, despite the increase in prices. Now you have to pay between 20 and 28 euros for a galette for 6 people.
A customer is understanding: “If they buy their most expensive raw materials, they must necessarily raise prices, it seems logical to me, they must also preserve their wages.” But the pleasure of the cake yes, but not at any price, as testified by a customer queuing outside: “If the pancake costs 30 euros, I won’t have a pancake, we’ll do without it!”
David Nogueira, president of the Côte-d’Or Boulanger Pastry Craftsmen Union, explains the price increase: “The price of meatballs has increased, we are between 3.30 and 3.50 euros per share. This is normal given the increase in raw material prices”.
Added to this is the increase in energy prices, which is taking the burden of bakers and confectioners, but also of very small businesses. The government has announced a tariff shield of 280 euros per megawatt hour, “Good news”, according to David Nogueira. The latter explains that he benefits from the agreed rate and comments: “I have the November and December bill, I took X 4, but with the government provision it will be fine.”
The provision of the “tariff shield” is corrective and only concerns companies that have renewed their contract between 1 July and 31 December. The tariff revision covers the year 2023, with no retroactive effect on 2022 invoices.
The guaranteed average rate for 2023 is in line with a reference price published by the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE). To be compared with the wholesale prices of the French electricity market: contracts were being negotiated on Friday for delivery in a year at around 225 euros per megawatt hour. It only concerns electricity supply contracts, those for gas covered by already existing aid mechanisms (regulated tariff, aid window, etc.)
To benefit from the guaranteed rate, business owners will need to retrieve a form from the tax site or that of their electricity supplier, and tick two boxes indicating on the one hand that they manage a VSE (fewer than 10 employees and less than two million euros in turnover) and on the other hand that they wish to benefit from this aid open until 31 December 2023.
If bakers and pastry chefs smile again, the entrepreneurs of small SMEs not affected by the device fear a distortion of competition between them and the VSEs. Jean-Eudes du Mesnil, general secretary of the Confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises (CPME) told AFP on Saturday.
On the other hand, the president of the main union of employers in the hotel and restaurant sector, Umih, chef Thierry Marx, for his part said that “this progress does not take into account all our plants”. It demands that everything “restaurants and all our hotels are eligible for this regulated rate”he wrote in an open letter to Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire published Friday evening on the website of the Le Parisien newspaper.
The boss “congratulates” however from the guaranteed price announced on Friday.
SMEs already have access to aid to cope with the recent spike in energy prices, such as the electric shock absorber, but these measures only cover part of the extra cost.
