After weeks of anguish, Julie Chiriaeff and Jonathan Rigaut have finally found sleep. Two and a half years ago, the young couple opened a bakery in the village of Jonchery-sur-Vesle, about twenty kilometers from Reims. Despite a business that is going well, Julie and Jonathan came close to shutting down their doors for good. The explosion in electricity prices almost got the better of them.
On March 15, Julie receives a letter from her former electricity supplier, TotalEnergies. This is an invoice of more than 25,000 euros for the months of October, November and December. The current in the bakery cost them 1800 euros per month in normal times. “We were unable to pay such a sum. We saw each other on the street”, tells Le Figaro Julie Chiriaeff. The two traders decide to fight, and the silence of TotalEnergies will not disarm them.
Julie and Jonathan contact local elected officials and try to raise funds on an online kitty. The success is unexpected. The mobilization ends up going beyond the borders of the Marne department. The national press seized on it and, on April 20, TotalEnergies ended up reducing the amount of the invoice by 18,000 euros. “When I received the call from TotalEnergies to let me know last Thursday, I couldn’t believe it,” says Le Figaro Julie Chiriaeff, who then hastened to check on her customer area. “I saw the new amount written in black and white and I thought we were saved,” she adds.
The 2,150 euros collected from customers and Internet users – some of whom are totally unknown – will be used to pay this bill, reduced to a reasonable level. “It’s a welcome help in the period,” says Julie Chiriaeff. Because the increase in electricity prices is compounded by the increase in the prices of raw materials and the increase in the salaries of employees. “We have no more cash. We can no longer wipe out the price increases between suppliers and consumers, ”says the young woman, who regretfully had to dismiss her pastry chef.