LOU BENOIST / AFP
The government puts pressure on TotalEnergies for a new rebate at the pump
POLICY – Thing promised, thing due. The ministers have not forgotten the declarations of the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné on a new discount at the pump. And while the company is slow to specify this gesture, the government does not hesitate to put a little pressure on this beginning of the week.
On Monday, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire smiled: “I simply say (to Patrick Pouyanné, editor’s note) that he made promises, and that it is generally better for promises to be kept”, he slipped on RTL. Almost at the same time, his colleague from Bercy Gabriel Attal added to the set of France 2: “I would like companies that can, and in particular Total if this is the case, to make a new gesture for the French who go to work every day and need their vehicle”declared the Minister of Public Accounts.
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This Tuesday, February 14, it is government spokesperson Olivier Véran who is giving a layer: “We would like there to be more state devices (…) devices worn by fuel sellers”, he insists on Télématin.
???????? “We’ve been asking him to commit for a few days” @olivierveran puts pressure on Patrick Pouyanné and… https://t.co/0KoYGWg7D0
— Telematin (@telematin)
On February 8, alongside the announcement of historic profits for the company, Patrick Pouyanné said in an interview with Parisian what “If the liter of diesel exceeds two euros, TotalEnergies might carry out new targeted rebate actions at the pump. “We are ready to look at what to do”, he had assured. Without further details. The government seized the outstretched hand, Olivier Véran saying the same day at the end of the Council of Ministers that a new rebate on fuel prices by the energy giant would be “welcomed”.
The rebate “linked to the threshold” of the 2nd euros per liter of diesel
But then, TotalÉnergie no longer officially communicated on the subject. How much might this discount be? Will it be applied to everyone? From when and for how long? In the government, carte blanche is given to the energy giant and Bruno Le Maire like Olivier Véran believes that it is up to the company to ” determine “ the conditions. But ” as soon as possible “ therefore, according to the government spokesman on Tuesday.
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After the relaunch of the Minister of the Economy on Monday, the group told AFP that the company “will clarify in the coming weeks.” “Patrick Pouyanné linked the intervention of TotalEnergies to the threshold of 2 euros per liter, but diesel is not at this level”, the group told AFP on Monday. The group’s France director, Isabelle Patrier, recognized that a liter of fuel at two euros was a “psychological threshold (…) in the heads of the French” but she made it known that a discount was not ” not immediately “.
As you can see in the graph above, the average national price of diesel stood at 1.8279 euros on Friday February 10, according to weekly data from the Ministry of Energy Transition. This represents 6 cents less than February 3, but 6 cents more than December 30. SP95 and SP95-E10 unleaded petrol followed the same trend, selling respectively at 1.9038 euro and 1.8729 euro per liter last Friday. You have to pay 22 to 23 cents more per liter compared to December 30.
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