This is a new gesture that should relieve many French people. Only three months after the end of his discount at the pump of 20 then 10 cents, the boss of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, announced at 8 p.m. ‘at the end of the year. An announcement that comes the day after President Emmanuel Macron’s request to make a “gesture”.
This cap will take effect from March 1 and will apply at all of the group’s 3,400 service stations, including at weekends and on motorways – where the measure will apply from this weekend. The measure concerns all gasoline and diesel fuels (B7 premier diesel, B10 premier diesel, SP95-E10, SP95-E5, E85 superethanol), except 98 unleaded and premium Excellium diesel.
“This measure for all protects our customers against prices that are too high,” said Patrick Pouyanné.
The company, which made 20.5 billion euros in profits in 2022, had been under pressure from Emmanuel Macron for twenty-four hours to make a “gesture” in this period of high inflation, caused in particular by the invasion Russian in Ukraine. “I hope that the dialogue can be finalized between the ministry and the companies concerned, as it was done last year on fuels, with rebates at the pump which had been made by companies like Total”, declared the President Macron on Tuesday from the Rungis wholesale market.
From September to December 2022, TotalEnergies had granted discounts at the pump of 20 then 10 cents in its stations, for a total cost of 550 million euros. The principle was different from the cap announced on Wednesday, because the rebate applied regardless of the price at the pump. This was on top of a state-funded rebate, which ended on December 31 and which the government was unwilling to extend in the name of fiscal responsibility.
Prices at the pump in France remain for the moment well below the symbolic bar of 2 euros. The European embargo on Russian diesel, in force since the beginning of February, could however make diesel more expensive in the future. Last week, diesel was sold in France at an average price of 1.8382 euros per litre, and unleaded 95-E10 at 1.8776 euros.
