Margaux Fodéré, edited by Gauthier Delomez 8:24 p.m., January 05, 2023

Emmanuel Macron pointed the finger at electricity suppliers on Thursday, saying he was tired of those who make "excessive profits".

At the microphone of Europe 1, the CEO of ekWateur admits to having been "surprised" to see the sector being singled out, and responds to the president's desire to have a renegotiation of contracts.

"From a purely financial point of view, it's not feasible today," replies Julien Tchernia, CEO and co-founder of ekWateur, a green energy supplier, to Emmanuel Macron.

Thursday morning, the president announced that all craftsmen and VSEs hit by the rise in energy prices would be able to renegotiate "excessive contracts" with their electricity supplier in January.

However, questioned by Europe 1, the boss of the green energy supplier explains that he has no capacity "to go and renegotiate (s) contracts with producers".

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Companies that supply energy are singled out by the executive in this context of rising prices.

The Elysée tenant said he had "enough" of those who make "excessive profits".

But Julien Tchernia defends himself by pointing out that the electricity sold today was paid more for a few months ago.

"We don't understand"

“If I renegotiated all the contracts with VSEs to put the price we see today, compared to that of this fall, the box would immediately lose five million euros, and that means that I am closing my box” , he warns at the microphone of Europe 1, adding that a supplier like ekWateur "makes very, very little margin".

"Prices are a question of the producers. If the president tells me 'this contract at 500 euros, where you have undertaken to buy this energy at this price, you are going to lower it to 280 euros', the question, who pays for this difference?" asks the boss of the supplier.

"I don't have the money."

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Julien Tchernia also admits to having been "surprised" to be singled out by the Head of State.

"It's something we don't understand. To make people believe that we are making superprofits, while I have a dozen of my colleagues who have gone bankrupt this year, I think it hits the wrong nail and it's very unpleasant", shares the CEO on Europe 1.