eight out of ten French people have turned down the heating because of the prices

2023-10-18 19:04:13

Eight out of 10 French households (79%) say they restricted their heating last winter to limit their bills, an unprecedented rate, in a context of sharp increases in energy prices, according to the annual barometer of the Energy Mediator , published Wednesday October 18.

Energy savings, heating in the spotlight

This rate, which was 69% in September 2022 and 53% in 2020, has never been so high, underlines the Mediator. For nine out of ten consumers, energy consumption is a concern.

Reasons more often economic than ecological

Some 31% say they have had difficulty paying their energy bills, 55% among those under 35 and 46% among craftsmen and traders. For a majority, energy sobriety is primarily motivated by economic reasons, more than by ecological issues.

Last year’s efforts were mainly linked to the need to lower bills (83%). However, those under 35 are more engaged on ecological issues: 49% say they want to participate in energy efficiency efforts for environmental reasons, compared to 42% overall.

Moreover, “probable consequence of the increase in energy prices”, the rate of disputes with suppliers has increased slightly in recent years, notes the Mediator. Thus 12% of consumers say they have encountered a dispute or made a complaint in 2023; they were 11% in 2022 and 8% in 2020.

A rise in prices that weakens already fragile households

The National Energy Ombudsman “expects energy suppliers to provide their customers with transparent and understandable information when prices increase”called the institution on Wednesday.

“The rise in energy prices has put already financially fragile households in difficulty. It is totally abnormal to receive after several months a regularization invoice with prices which may have been multiplied by 2, 3, 4 or 5, or even more, without having been alerted in due time.underlines the mediator, Olivier Challan Belval, commenting on the results of this investigation, in a press release.

This survey was carried out by the.becoming research institute from September 4 to 18 with a representative sample of 2,002 households surveyed electronically, for the fifth year in a row.