“The worst thing is that we work”: a bakery throws a kitten to pay its electricity bill

Le sol s’est dérobé sous les pieds de Julie et Jonathan lorsqu’ils ont découvert, en mars dernier, le montant faramineux de la invoice d’électricité de leur petite boulangerie rurale, installée à Jonchery-sur-Vesle (Marne) depuis bientôt three years. For just two months (November and December 2022), the thirty-something couple had to pay their supplier a bill of almost 20,000 euros, while a normal month usually costs them 1,800 euros in winter.

She says she panicked when she discovered this “unbelievable” bill, which arrived late in her mailbox.

Closing Threat…and Home Loss

Today, the young woman tries by all means to explain this pharaonic amount, since her consumption has not changed. He asked local elected officials for help, sent a letter asking Totalenergies to justify such an increase in these rates, and even launched a boat last week in an attempt to keep his head above water, time to come clean. To date, this has allowed them to raise more than 1,500 euros.

“I have no idea how we are going to get out of this,” worries this woman, mother of 7-year-old twins. “Not only are we far from having paid off our business, because the loan lasted 8 years. But we also live in an apartment on site. So if we don’t find a situation quickly and we lose these venues, we’ll end up up on the street.”

The frustration is all the greater since the bakery works very well.

“But even that is no longer enough,” he laments. “Small businesses are closing one after another. With that and the rise in raw materials, I have the impression that we are being murdered… Besides, it has nothing to do with our courage or the quality of our work”.

Since the beginning of the year, the couple has changed their electricity provider and found more “reasonable” bills, which are around 2,000 euros per month. In spite of everything, in order not to have to put the key under the door, Julia and Jonathan hope they can settle this account.

Because in recent months, many bakeries have been forced to draw the curtain, due to a lack of sufficient resources to cushion the rise in prices. And the government aid announced at the end of last year is not enough, because the procedures take time to get under way. And in the meantime, the bills must continue to be paid.