In Europe, who protects their companies the most from rising energy prices? If France is very active in offsetting the rise in electricity bills, its neighbors keep their companies more exposed to higher gas prices than France, according to the Reexecode institute. In a note published this Tuesday, the institute compares the public support schemes for companies in force at the beginning of 2023 in four large European countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain).
French VSEs benefit from the regulated electricity tariff, whose increases have been limited by the State since 2022. As for companies that consume a lot of electricity, called electro-intensive, they “indirectly benefit” from the Arenh system, a mechanism that allows alternative providers. of EDF to buy volumes of electricity from nuclear energy at advantageous prices from the public energy company.
French companies poorly protected against rising gas prices
On the other hand, “French and Spanish companies are little protected against the rise in the price of gas,” estimates Reexecode. Based on the gas price of January 2023 (70 euros per megawatt hour, that is, an increase of 400% compared to the reference period set at the end of 2019), “the Italian system would mitigate the increase suffered by SMEs and the ETI”, whose electricity bill the explosion would be limited to 220%. “The VSE would be highly protected in Spain (+33%) and Italy (+77%),” adds the institute. French and German companies, on the other hand, would bear “almost the entire increase in the price of gas.”
Despite public support, “companies in all four countries will face significantly higher electricity and gas prices in 2023 than in 2019, unlike their non-European competitors, particularly American ones,” the institute notes. a situation that “advocates for a European energy reform”. markets favorable to business competitiveness”. The European Commission plans to present proposals in mid-March to reform the European electricity market, the operation of which is accused by some of having aggravated the rise in energy prices in recent months.
Source: BFM TV
