The restaurateur of the Hôtel de la Poste in L’Habitarelle, commune of Châteauneuf-de-Randon, failed to reach an EDF interlocutor to negotiate these astronomical prices.
The Hôtel de la Poste in L’Habitarelle, in the town of Châteauneuf-de-Randon, is currently closed, on an annual break, until the end of January. But the start of the new school year is not looking very auspicious for this renowned establishment in Lozère. Marie Laurens, the owner, has indeed received a letter from the supplier EDF, announcing an astronomical increase in her next electricity bills. “Over 420% in peak winter hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., from mid-November to mid-April. And this from 1is Januaryexplains the restorer. The tariff will go from 14 cents to 60 cents per kilowatt hour. I expected to have 20 to 30% increase, but not to this extent.”
Closed at noon
This prohibitive cost of energy will have direct consequences on the operation of the establishment. Upon its recovery, “we are going to close the restaurant at lunchtime, except on Sundays, or for big events”, announces Marie Laurens. She would have liked to discuss this increase with the incumbent electricity supplier, “but impossible to get EDF on the phone. After 27 to 29 minutes, communication breaks off, we are asked to call back. We have tried twenty times, in vain.”
The restorer recognizes that “It’s going to be complicated. This increase is not an investment. To work, all the lights and the oven must be on. I can’t reduce according to the number of customers I have in the room.” She also does not want to resolve to part with her staff. “We are eleven people workingshe says. I have a great team around me. When you have pearls in your team, you want to keep them. I’ll see with my accountant what we can do.”
“It’s still the cheapest”
Initially, the owner of the Hôtel de la Poste hopes “join a contact at EDF, to negotiate. I want to explain to them that we have always paid our bills. I want them to understand that we are working, that it is too much. With other colleagues, it is not not the case.”
Marie Laurens explains that it was a letter from the electricity supplier who taught her this “Bad news. And EDF is still the cheapest. Total Energie made me an offer at 129 cents per kilowatt hour.” Only consolation perhaps, “I have another gas supplier, which I don’t want to change”concludes the restorer from Margeride.