Creation of the “energy” public guarantee fund to help large gas and electricity consuming companies

The Government is setting up a public guarantee fund allowing companies that consume large amounts of gas or electricity to ask banks, insurance companies or finance companies to benefit from sureties partially guaranteed by the State for their contracts. of energy supply, replacing the collateral requested by energy suppliers.

The decree of February 10, 2022 sets the operating methods of the fund responsible for granting guarantees to credit institutions, insurance companies, financing companies and in respect of the guarantees required under a gas supply contract or electricity, in application of article 148 of the finance law n° 2022-1726 of December 30, 2022 for 2023.

This public guarantee is open to all sectors of activity. The management of this guarantee fund is entrusted to the Caisse centrale de réassurance (CCR).

To be eligible, companies must benefit from a guarantee that meets the following conditions:

the guarantee must be taken out by the company at the request of a supplier under an electricity or gas supply contract concluded after August 31, 2022 necessarily relating in whole or in part to the year 2023 and for which the term may be later than 2023 but must not exceed December 31, 2024;
it must be limited to an amount less than or equal to the sums due for three months of gas or electricity supply, defined by the gas or electricity supply contract;
it must be granted to companies registered in France with contracts representing a volume greater than 1 GWh per year for electricity or 2 GWh per year for gas;
it must be taken out with a bank, insurer or finance company that has signed an implementation agreement with the Caisse centrale de réassurance, in charge of deploying this system on behalf of the State . The list of signatory establishments will be published on the ministry's website and updated regularly.

This system will contribute to reducing companies' liquidity problems by creating the conditions for the development of a surety market to replace the collateral requested by suppliers when signing or renewing electricity and gas supply contracts.

Companies benefiting from this guarantee guaranteed by the public fund will no longer be subject to requests for additional collateral by their electricity or gas supplier.

For Bruno Le Maire: “This fund materializes the State's commitment to help companies affected by the increase in gas and electricity prices to sign energy contracts on reasonable terms. Fruit of the consensus between public authorities, energy market players and financial intermediaries, it will bring security to gas and electricity supply contracts to ensure the smooth operation of our economy. »

For Agnes Pannier-Runacher: "By reducing the risk of non-payment for energy suppliers, this fund completes the action taken by the Government to protect French consumers as much as possible, by enabling those whose economic activity depends most on energy from have easier access to a supply contract. I am counting on the major insurers and banks to do their part in this effort. »

For Roland Lescure: “With the establishment of this public guarantee on energy supply contracts, the State continues to play its part in the face of rising gas and electricity prices. This measure was approved by suppliers and concerted with insurers and banks. It will make it possible to respond to the problems of certain industrialists who are major consumers of energy and who wish to favor bank guarantees over the prepayment of several months of invoices. »