The energy cost of the Pierre Werner Administrative Centre, the 53,000m2 office complex that houses the Chamber of Commerce, Statec and Fedil, is expected to increase tenfold next year.
, director of the Chamber of Commerce, which owns 60% of the office complex confirmed that "the 2022 budget of the condominium, voted before the Russian invasion, amounts to about €550,000 in energy costs". Generally, large structures negotiate a multi-year contract with an energy supplier.
The prices that have been proposed to us for 2023 currently foresee a tenfold increase in the cost per MwH.
In the case of the Chamber of Commerce, a contract has been signed with Enovos for a period of three years. This contract will expire in a few weeks, so negotiations are underway with the energy supplier. But prices are going up. "The prices we have been offered for 2023 currently foresee a tenfold increase in the cost per MwH," says Thelen. "The prices per MwH are between €500 and €600, whereas when we signed our multi-year contract three years ago, they were between €50 and €60 euros per MwH," said , operational director of the Chamber of Commerce.
In other words, if the Pierre Werner Administrative Centre consumes the same amount of energy as in 2022, the total bill could be €5.5m for the year 2023, an increase of 900%.
These are the prices of the moment and many companies that come to the end of their contract with their energy supplier are in this situation.
To reduce costs, management is working on internal solutions. It is negotiating mainly with Enovos. Several avenues are being explored to reduce the energy bill, such as signing a new contract, but on a very short term basis, hoping to see prices fall within three months, or starting a contract in tranches. "For the moment, these are just thoughts. We also have to talk about it with the other co-owners. But the situation is delicate. These are the prices of the moment and many companies that are coming to the end of their contract with their energy supplier are in this situation," says Wagener.
He hopes that the outcome of the next tripartite meeting will provide solutions to this energy crisis for both businesses and households. Alain Fürpass, director of SUDenergie, explained on radio 100.7 that the gas tariff will increase by 110% from 1 October. This is a major blow for the 38,000 customers of this supplier, whose average consumption is 2,700m3 per year. In other words, the average bill of a SUDenergie customer household will rise from €2,400 to €5,300.
At the end of August, it was Enovos that sounded the alarm by announcing a rise in its gas prices from 1 October of
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.