“I was entitled to zero aid”… This baker closed shop stunned by his electricity bills

There will be no “zizi bean” in Bourgaltroff’s galettes des rois this year. From his small village in Moselle, Julien Bernard-Regnard had created a small commercial stir in 2022 with his daring bet. Almost twelve months later, the baker has drawn the curtain since the beginning of December. Blame it on charges that have become too high.

“Like my colleagues, I first suffered from the rise in commodity prices. The butter had almost doubled in price, not to mention the flour,” he recalls. “Then in September, it was a shock when I saw the amount of the electricity bill: 1,300 euros instead of the usual 450! »

Oven, cold room, showcase, kneader… As production is very energy-intensive, the craftsman looked for solutions. “I got up two hours earlier to make the most of off-peak hours. I was starting at 2 o’clock instead of 4 o’clock. We also stopped cooking in the afternoon, we disconnected everything we could… As if we were running after energy. “Without much result. “Consumption dropped a little but since the price per kilowatt hour increased, that didn’t change anything. My bill must have gone up to 1,400 euros I believe. »

So what to do? Julien Bernard-Regnard has increased his selling prices, with a baguette “up to 1.40 euros”, and reduced his payroll costs. “I had to fire my saleswoman. I found myself making bread and pastries and then selling them. I was doing almost 100 hours a week, ”he explains, still without complaining. Simply to tell this “long slope” until the judicial liquidation, at the beginning of December. “I had no more cash, it was becoming nonsense. Now I am placed in compulsory liquidation. All the documents are with my accountant and I don’t want to hear about them anymore, even if I still have to repay my debts. »

“The impression of having abandoned my clients”

The now ex-baker may want to turn the page, he is still very touched. It has only been “only ten days” since he “set his nose outside”. “For three weeks, I was in the dark at home eating pills, I was depressed. It does not look like me, me who is usually a fighter, ”plagues the 30-year-old, who had created his business in 2018 and has since continued to diversify. “Each year, I was evolving. I was relaying parcels, selling cigarettes, lotto, etc. I really gave everything for all this and now I feel like I have abandoned my clients who will find themselves traveling miles for the slightest service. »

“Disgusted and angry”, Julien Bernard-Regnard is very angry with two people, whom he wishes to quote: “Olivia Grégoire and Bruno Le Maire”. The Minister Delegate for SMEs, Commerce, Crafts and Tourism, as well as the Minister of the Economy are guilty, according to him, “of having only carried out propaganda”. “They repeat everywhere that we are entitled to a lot of stuff but I was entitled to zero help. Zero. Each time, there were so many clauses that I went through, like many of my colleagues. »

“There will be fire” in Paris

The tariff shield? “My electricity meter was above 36 kVA”, replies the craftsman. The help desk for paying electricity bills? “The government took into account the bills of the same month but in 2021. But who had energy expenses greater than 3% of their turnover at that time? » The postponement of the payment of taxes and social security contributions? “But we were already paid monthly for all that! What about free terminations of energy contracts then? “I tried, but the other suppliers were even more expensive”, still indignant Julien Bernard-Regnard, who believes that the problem comes from the indexation of electricity prices on those of gas. Either the European rule denounced by the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella in his “Letter to the bakers of France” on Tuesday.

“I agree with him,” insists the Moselle native, who promises to be at the event for professionals in the sector on January 23 in Paris. “There is going to be fire because I have colleagues who have seen their electricity bills increase tenfold,” he says as he leaves his new job. On a production line of Ineos Automotive (ex-Smart) in Sarreguemines. “I would like to thank a client who found a job for me… I will not return to a bakery in France, that’s for sure. »

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