The threshold for renegotiation of electricity contracts for artisans will be set this Friday according to Grégoire

This threshold will be based on the "reference price of the CRE" (Energy Regulation Commission), said the minister on BFMTV, adding that the average indicator prices issued in the third quarter of 2022 "are around 300 euros" the megawatt hour.

"This is the purpose of the meeting we have at 16:15 p.m.: to specify the quantified threshold from which we will be able to legitimately renegotiate our contract", she added.

On the French wholesale market, electricity supply contracts for delivery in a year were being negotiated on Friday around 225 euros per megawatt hour.

Between June and December 2022, they continuously exceeded 400 euros/MWh, with a peak above 1.100 euros/MWh at the end of August.

President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that all craftsmen and very small businesses (TPE, less than ten employees) could renegotiate "excessive contracts" for the supply of energy according to terms yet to be defined.

"Our objective with the President of the Republic is to save all the small businesses which could be threatened with closure because their energy bills would be too high", declared Friday the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, during a trip to the Ardennes before meeting with suppliers at Bercy.

"It's going to be a frank, direct but necessary discussion", he warned, noting that there was "also a feeling of injustice" for the companies having renegotiated their contract at the worst time, between the end of August and early October 2022.

His colleague Olivia Grégoire conceded that "some small energy companies may have difficulty" selling at a price below the planned threshold. The meeting will serve to ensure that those "who have bought at very high prices, do not find themselves, in terms of cash, on the ground", she explained.

“This will be the subject of the long meeting that we will have with the producers, but also the resellers” of energy, she specified.

"There is also another weapon that we have left and Bruno Le Maire has already told energy suppliers: either they align themselves with what we have said and they initiate renegotiation of contracts that are beyond beyond the CRE tariff", or "we have one weapon left, it is taxation", with the possibility of an "amendment finance bill where we will increase taxes on energy companies", threatened Mrs. Gregory.