On Friday, the government announced the cap for the whole of 2023 on the electricity tariff for VSEs which renewed their electricity contract at a very high price in the second half of 2022, craftsmen, bakers, dry cleaners or even small restaurateurs and struggling to pay the bill.

Friday's announcement (no more than 280 euros per MWh on average over the year 2023) concerns only some of the very small businesses, those which, like bakers or certain small restaurateurs, have a high power meter, greater than 36 kVa, the Ministry of Energy Transition told AFP on Monday.

They are approximately 600,000 affected by such power on the meter in France, but they have not all resigned a new contract during the last six months of 2022: thus, "only a part of these 600,000 VSEs should request the revision measure of the contract", according to the same source.

In the process, professional unions (among others the confederation of SMEs and Umih, employers' association of the hotel and catering industry) demanded the extension of this maximum tariff to medium-sized companies.

"We have to be careful to help those who need it the most and not to go dispatch, sprinkle money which is the money of the French", replied on France 2 on Monday Ms. Grégoire.

The minister said she was "at heart" to respond to chef Thierry Marx, head of Umih, and that she would meet in the hours and days to come with representatives of restaurateurs and SMEs.

"It can't be done on the same scale as for very small businesses (...) it still costs a lot of money to the state and energy suppliers," she said, and "(...) we will rather go on a case-by-case basis rather than on a rule for all, because it is not possible to ask that of all energy suppliers".

Recognizing "aberrant" cases, with energy bills sometimes tenfold, she recalled that medium-sized companies can seize the energy ombudsman and seek other aid.

On the one hand, the electricity shock absorber open to companies with less than 250 employees and less than 50 million in turnover.

And on the other hand, the help desk for the payment of electricity and gas bills, for companies with a large energy bill, equivalent to at least 3% of turnover.

The government has multiplied aid announcements in recent months and simplification efforts.

"We must provide local solutions", repeated Ms. Grégoire, announcing an intervention during the day with the prefects so that the aid is better presented at the local level and more accessible.

© 2023 AFP