Lionel Gougelot (in Bapaume), edited by Laura Laplaud 10:43 a.m., November 14, 2022

In a period of high energy inflation, company bills exploded and threatened certain sectors such as the endivière sector.

In Bapaume, Pas-de-Calais, an endive producer will see his electricity bill quadruple next year.

A situation "which is not tenable" for this professional who plans to stop his production.

The energy bill is the new fear of business leaders.

One sector is bearing the full brunt of the rise in electricity prices: endive producers.

In two years, the bill has gone from 5% of the operating cost to 30%.

An unbearable outbreak for professionals, as in Bapaume, in Pas-de-Calais, where Europe 1 went.

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An electricity bill multiplied by four

In the large cold room of Mathieu Bocquillon's farm, it is zero degrees.

A constant temperature to preserve the endive roots.

"The biggest item in energy consumption is the fridges. We can't escape it anyway," he says.

Next to it, on the contrary, it is necessary to heat the dark rooms where the endives grow.

A farm whose electricity bill will be quadrupled next year according to Daniel, Mathieu's father.

"In 2023, we are around 150,000 euros or so, which is really not sustainable, we can't get there," he says.

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Government assistance to cover the bill will be clearly insufficient for Daniel.

"The maximum we can have is 21% of the bill. In other words, peanuts. Unfortunately, that will not cover the additional cost. If I can use a little black humor, we can say that the costs of the electricity totally freaks us out."

4,000 jobs at stake

So much so that some endiviers are now considering stopping the production of a vegetable that is nevertheless emblematic of the northern region.

"I often like to say that we have lost the coal, we would not like to lose the endive, it is a product that can simply disappear from the circuits because of the energy. We are not masters of the price" , he regrets.

In the region, 4,000 jobs in the endivière sector are at stake.