TotalEnergies announced on Friday that it was updating its rates for very small businesses (VSEs) to "take account of the recent fall in electricity prices", and offered to apply the new rates to recently signed contracts.

It also called for dialogue with public authorities to ensure the viability of its own business as a gas and electricity supplier.

In response to repeated warnings from craftsmen, particularly bakers, about their soaring electricity bills, Emmanuel Macron called on Thursday for a renegotiation of "excessive" contracts between energy suppliers and very small businesses, citing a reference price of 280 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).

A meeting is scheduled for the afternoon between Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and his Energy Transition counterpart Agnès Pannier-Runacher with energy suppliers.

TotalEnergies announced in a press release on Friday that it would be revising its tariffs from Monday, bringing them down to an average price of 320 euros per MWh, "in view of the fall in electricity prices observed at the start of 2023".

It added that it would propose that VSEs that signed contracts between August 1 and November 30 apply the new tariff retroactively to the date of signature.

"Aware of the major impact of electricity prices on the economic activity of very small businesses, and in the name of national solidarity, TotalEnergies Électricité et Gaz France wants to mobilize to help them cope with the difficulties caused by this unprecedented energy crisis," said the French group in a statement.

"To implement these proposals, TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France intends to enter into a constructive dialogue with the public authorities to define the mechanisms that will enable both very small businesses and electricity suppliers, whether integrated or not, to carry out their electricity production and distribution activities under economically viable conditions," it also stresses.

On its website, TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France claims to have five million individual and business customers for its electricity and/or natural gas offers. (Written by Bertrand Boucey, edited by Blandine Hénault)