Question 14317 — commerce and crafts

Summary

Ms. Mathilde Paris draws the attention of the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty to the alarming situation of artisan bakers facing the increase in electricity prices. The energy aid window, the “shock absorber” system as well as the aid schemes for paying the additional cost of electricity and gas prices to businesses in 2023 are well below the increases noted by the craftsmen and correspond in the large majority to use linked to office activities and not to craft activities. Thus, many craft professions such as bakers, butchers or even restaurateurs, who need to run powerful ovens and refrigerators, among other things, consume much more energy due to their activity and thus find themselves outside the scope of the systems. aids. Thus, bakers and other craft professions are doubly penalized by an increase in their bills which can reach up to ten times the bills of previous years. This is particularly the case of a baker from the MP's constituency, in Loiret, who contacted her, frightened by her new prices, telling her that his electricity bill was going from 20,000 euros per year to 80,000 euros per year. How can a craftsman survive in the face of these unreasonable prices? How can it cope with a fourfold increase in these energy costs? Even though the profession of artisan bakers has already been weakened by competition from large supermarkets which sell bread at knockdown prices, then hit again by the rise in the price of raw materials following the war in Ukraine, notably that of wheat, butter and sugar, it is now impossible for many bakeries to cope with rising energy prices. Faced with rising energy prices, many bakeries are forced to close across the country and the year 2023 seems to mark sad new records. Despite a helping hand from the State and the establishment of a price shield for craftsmen meeting predefined criteria, many establishments are forced to close their doors, to the detriment of consumers who sometimes have no other solution than to turn to mass distribution to consume bread. Another problem: the insufficiency of the tariff shield which, according to the unions, would only concern a minority of bakeries due to the need for meter power, greater than 36 kilovolt-amperes, which does not fall within the framework of the shield. “The criterion of the size of the company is unrelated to that of regulated electricity prices. The real criterion is that of the power of the meter. However, most bakeries, even small neighborhood bakeries, between the oven, the mixer, the cold rooms and the refrigerated banks, need energy power which places them outside the scope of the protection stated by the Minister of the Economy. explains Marc Sanchez, general secretary of the independent workers' union. In view of all these elements and in the face of the distress combined with the concern of the entire profession, she calls on the Minister on the need to take urgent measures to save these local businesses par excellence, which provide life to all territories and in particular rural territories and contribute to their attractiveness. All Bakeries must be supported, regardless of their energy requirements.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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