“In 2021, because I paid for a whole year! This is a new blow to the head of Philippe Bréhon, the endeavour of Couture between Lille and Béthune in northern France, who received 162,000 euros in electricity bills for two months last March 10. For months, chicory production has been in crisis, La Voix du Nord writes that energy is heavily weighed down by high prices.
But for Philippe Bréhon, last year’s biggest bills so far did not exceed 50,000 euros per month. Before the energy crisis, in 2021, his monthly bills were no more than 21,000 euros. Up to this point. In La Voix du Nord, says the producer, president of the Union des Endeavours, on behalf of the industry as a whole.
Refrigerators are off for four hours a day
Because it must be said that the producers have taken efforts for that. At La Couture, for example, Philippe Bréhon tried to reduce his bill by turning off the large refrigerators where roots were stored for four hours a day (at peak time). “Still, it’s bad for some people. I have a colleague who received a small endowry and an invoice for 180,000 euros. »
This Tuesday in Arras, in the department of Pas-de-Calais, the edives gathered to try to find solutions. Today, they are asking for a renegotiation of the contracts with EDF for those who had to sign at a bad time. “Some people who signed contracts in September 2022 are paying 58 cents per kWh and can’t stop there. They ask for further explanations and answers if they have questions about their bill amounts, reports La Voix du Nord.
“Endeviers no longer want to travel by sight. “And the solution will not come from a new PGE (government-guaranteed loan): “Bills, in the end, we have to pay them well. One of the only reliable solutions to reduce them today is the installation of photovoltaic panels. One that was done recently. They have to allow a 20% profit. “But many endive plants can’t be equipped with such facilities,” explains Philip Brehon. So how do we do it? »
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