France announced on Wednesday that it was stepping up efforts to protect its companies against surging energy prices, with the country’s top energy suppliers signing a charter pledging ways to protect their corporate customers, according to Reuters.
“We must protect our companies against this surge in the price of electricity and gas,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire at a news conference.
“We will target aid measures so that no company is left behind to face difficulties,” added Le Maire.
Le Maire added that more precise details regarding this charter would be presented later in the week by French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
Energy prices have risen around the world in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has seen Russia cut off supplies of energy to western Europe.
Le Maire added that France continued to examine ways to decouple the gas and electricity prices from one another.
France’s CRE energy regulator said earlier on Wednesday that French gas storage facilities were 99% full ahead of this winter, although people in the country would still have to try and reduce their energy consumption given high prices and market tensions