companies fear “a blow”

” I am very worried. I really don’t know how I’m going to get out of this. » On July 15, this manager of an SME with six employees, in the aeronautics sector, near Toulouse, was flabbergasted when he discovered the latest letter from EDF. In this missive, the energy company submits new tariffs to him, which he can, if he disputes them, refuse after a short notice. “I extrapolated without including taxes – which are around 30% – and I arrive at a 51% increase in prices for an average consumption of 43,000 kilovolt-amperes [kVA] »details the one who wishes to remain anonymous because his activity is sensitive.

Like 1.5 million SMEs, the company benefits from a regulated tariff. It has subscribed to a green tariff since 2012 which expires on 1^er october. Distraught by the announced increases, the entrepreneur sees it as a threat to the viability of his business: “I need to keep the parts in a bath at a certain temperature, otherwise they get damaged, the production lines are blocked”, he is alarmed.

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If this little boss is worried, for others, the bill looks even more terrible. “The price of our electricity is fixed until the end of the year. For 2023, we do not know how much we will buy our kilowatt-hour, but a doubling is already mentioned”advances Jean-Yves Millet who operates a large surface U near Tulle, in Corrèze.

This store generated a profit of 100,000 euros for the financial year ended in June, with an electricity cost reaching 150,000 euros: if this bill is multiplied by two, ” [il va] be in the red “. “The easy solution, he said, it is to raise prices and cut staff. This is not my wish, far from it. » And to confess: “I talked to my wife about it this weekend, I don’t know where we’re going…”

Fixed rate contracts to be renewed

Appalled bosses, Olivier Ducatillion, president of the Union of Textile Industries, comes across them every day: “A small weaving company in eastern France with a turnover of 10 million euros signed a contract in July which reduces its electricity bill from 250,000 to 850,000 euros per year. Another in the North, more important, sees its annual budget jump from 1.5 million euros to 10 million euros”, he says. According to him, the gas which represented 15% of the cost price at the end of 2021 of the textile finishing sector (dyeing, finishes) weighed around 40%-45% in March.

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