Energies: Bruno Le Maire's proposals to lower prices

Isabelle Ory, edited by Gauthier Delomez 09:21 am, November 09, 2021

New round table on energy prices.

European Ministers of the Economy have been meeting in Brussels since Monday to try to provide a response to the soaring prices in Europe (+ 4.1% in one year).

France, through Bruno Le Maire, pleads for a reform of the electricity market.

With three concrete proposals so that, in the future, the electricity prices paid by European consumers and businesses are no longer so linked to fluctuations in gas prices.

The French minister will have to be convincing, because this objective is still far from being shared by all the countries of the EU.

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Forcing electricity producers to donate part of their profits

First, Bruno Le Maire suggests that in the event of a sudden rise in prices, electricity producers like EDF be forced, by contract, to pay back part of their profits to mitigate the shock on consumer bills.

"We offer an automatic price stabilizer. Even before any price increase, the increase in revenue for the producer would automatically be passed on to the supplier, and therefore to the individual or the company", explains the French Minister of the Economy. on Europe 1.

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Then, companies would be allowed to enter into long-term contracts at stable prices, provided they commit to using carbon-free electricity.

Finally, Bruno Le Maire wants consumers everywhere in Europe to have access to an electricity supply at a fixed price.

At this stage, only Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic support these proposals.

Ideas that risk on the other hand coughing countries like Germany or the Netherlands, which believe in regulation by the market.