2023-04-19 19:02:31
Attention sensitive subject. On July 1, 2023, the regulated gas sales tariff (TRV) will disappear. A page turns. Nostalgics will remember that it was created in April 1946, when the energy sector was nationalized.
Around 2.3 million private customers still have a TRV contract, taken out with Engie. They were 9 million ten years ago.
This end of « rates » had been planned for a long time. It had been decided by the “climate energy” law of November 2019, which was then based on a decision of the Council of State of 2017, taken in the name of European competition law. But given the upheavals in the energy markets in Europe since the war in Ukraine and the virtual halt in deliveries of Russian gas, everything has been done to make the operation as painless as possible.
An automatic switch
Those who have not yet changed their contract by July 1 will automatically switch to the “Passerelle” offer, the outlines of which were unveiled by Engie on Wednesday April 19.
At first glance, it looks like two drops of water to the TRV. Its calculation method has been validated by the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE). The offer is for an indefinite period and can be terminated at any time. It should also be noted that only customers who are still at the TRV are entitled to it.
No one yet knows the price of the kilowatt/hour of Passerelle. It depends on prices on the wholesale gas market for the past month and over three rolling months. So it’s a hassle to choose. Clearly, it is only at the end of June that we will know the amount to be paid in July. Already, simulations carried out over the month of April evoke an amount per kilowatt/hour 3 to 5% higher than that of the TRV.
« We advise consumers to take a good look at the offers offered, to compare and to wait a little before leaving Passerelle “Explains Lucile Buisson, energy, environment and transport project manager at UFC-Que Choisir, recalling that Engie could also offer more advantageous offers in the coming weeks. There are currently around twenty suppliers on the French market.
Gas markets are trending lower
The price of gas has dropped significantly in recent months, which should change the situation. In mid-April, it settled at around €45 per MWh, compared to €140 in mid-December and more than €340/MWh at its peak in August. For now, forecasts for the rest of 2023 do not anticipate a further surge in prices.
« The bearish context on the wholesale markets and the end of the TRV are an opportunity for suppliers to relaunch a tariff offensive. We can quickly expect offers that are 10% cheaper than CRE’s reference formula and therefore between 10% and 15% less than the gateway offer “, anticipates Sylvain le Falher, general manager of Hellowatt.
Will consumers be tempted? In any case, the tariff shield extended by the State until the end of the year should protect them from a possible surge in prices.
But after ? “The story from 2024, nobody knows it. Will the government want to put up a shield again? Much will depend on the state of market prices in the second half of 2023 “, explains Florence Fouquet, director of the private market of Engie.
The government froze the regulated gas sales tariff from October 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022, before capping the increase at 15% on January 1.
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