The head of Veolia must discuss a sensitive file with the Minister of Economy. Estelle Brachlianoff will meet with Bruno Le Maire this Friday to discuss a government imbroglio affecting her group and the entire cleaning industry.
Last Thursday, the main actors in the environment discovered, stupefied, an amendment voted in the Senate that plunges them into red numbers. The executive plans to set a ceiling price for incinerators for the electricity they produce, thanks to the combustion of waste, and resell. The price had been set at €180/megawatt hour during the examination of the text in the National Assembly.
A measure similar to the implementation for the collection of capital gains from wind and solar farms: this is the contribution of companies in the sector to the energy crisis. Except that last Thursday, the Government presented a new amendment to the Senate in which this ceiling was suddenly divided by three.
A last amendment proposed to rectify the situation by proposing a price of 145 euros, but the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal surprisingly opposed…
“He was not even alerted to the issue, he was stumbling around,” adds another industry leader. But even at 145 euros, we are just starting to make money.
The seven makers write to Elisabeth Borne
A rare union in this highly competitive sector, the seven incineration companies – Veolia, Suez, Paprec, Séché, Pizzorno, Idex and Urbaser – wrote together to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne last weekend. In her letter that BFM Business has obtained, they point out the “lack of consultation” of this measure that “will have a strong impact on the development of the sector.” There are about a hundred incinerators in France that supply about 1% of electricity production. “This winter we will be necessary,” slides one of the signatories of the letter, alluding to the shortage of nuclear energy.
The manufacturers have started talks with the government and the Ministry of Energy Transition. “It is an unfortunate ball but it will be corrected” confides a large company in the sector. “The issue of incineration had not been pointed out, we recognize it in the cabinet of Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. We found out after the presentation of the amendments.” It is all the more shameful because it also affects local communities.
The mayors of France get involved
The incinerators belong to the municipalities that delegate management to the operators, using the same water management model. A portion of the proceeds goes to them. The letter sent to the government also points to the risk of seeing “an increase in local taxes.” If too low a ceiling were set, it would also have consequences on the tax revenues of municipalities, which could fall by several hundred million euros. It only took 24 hours for the president of the Association of Mayors of France to react.
“The Government wants to limit the income from the sale of energy produced by the incineration of waste above €60/MWh for the benefit of the State, while the ceiling at the European level is €180/MWh. This puts the finances of the industry and communities at risk,” David Lisnard said on Twitter on Saturday.
At Bercy, we are trying to calm things down pending the new reading of the text in the National Assembly in early December, as part of the Finance Bill (PFL).
“The government has provided for the deduction of income already paid to local authorities, to avoid taxing them. This tax on ‘inframarginal rents’ is intended to capture only abnormal income generated by electricity production and is not intended to undermine the profitability of electricity production”, confides the cabinet of Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts. “We have to deal with the issue almost site by site, adds Agnès Pannier Runacher’s cabinet. The ceiling of 180 euros is a bit high but the 60 euro ceiling is a bit low…”. In the coming days there will be meetings between the industrialists of the sector and the interested ministries.
Source: BFM TV
