2023-09-16 03:31:53
Our country is no longer first in class. For a long time, France has prided itself on having cheap electricity, partly thanks to its nuclear production. In 2022, while the energy crisis caused wholesale market prices to soar, the government’s implementation of a particularly effective tariff shield even allowed the kilowatt hour (kWh) sold to individuals and SMEs to become the cheapest of Europe. This is no longer the case at all.
Once the emergency has passed, the State has decided to reduce the size of this particularly costly system (110 billion euros spent over three years). On February 1, the regulated sales tariff (TRV) for electricity, which serves as a standard for all other market offers, underwent an initial increase of 15%. Without the tariff shield, it would nevertheless have been much higher: + 99%, according to calculations by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). That is to say a doubling of prices compared to the previous year. Five months later, on August 1, a new increase was decided, this time of 10%.
From first to third place
Enough to considerably increase the bill for most French households. In its barometer updated this Friday, which measures electricity prices in the main countries of Europe, Hello Watt highlights a curious paradox: “Due to the gradual disappearance of the tariff shield, prices are actually in the process of decreasing. ‘increase significantly in our country, observes Sylvain Le Falher, the co-founder and general director of this online comparator. But this increase occurs while these same prices are generally on a downward trend everywhere else in Europe. »
With a kWh now sold on average at 27.20 euro cents including tax, including the subscription, France has moved in a few months from first to third place in the ranking of countries with low electricity prices. the lowest. Enough to place the country in the European average. Only Spain (15 euro cents) and Italy (23.9 euro cents) continue to treat their households better for the moment. Among the poor performers, we find the United Kingdom at the top but also Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, which charge higher prices.
The situation could worsen further for households
A situation which could unfortunately further deteriorate in the coming months. As early as April, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced that the tariff shield would disappear completely by the end of the year. “The disappearance of this device will make households even more vulnerable in the face of the 25% drop in production of the nuclear fleet, resulting from repeated maintenance and corrosion problems,” fears Sylvain le Falher. Because it keeps electricity prices at a higher level than in other European countries. »
An increase is already scheduled for February 1. After a few hiccups in communication, we learned last Thursday from the Ministry of the Economy that the increase should be limited to 10%.
To face this upward context, the State does not have many resources at its disposal. In addition to putting pressure on EDF to restart the activity of its nuclear reactors as quickly as possible, he is currently campaigning with the European Commission for an in-depth overhaul of the rules which govern the European electricity market. Today, wholesale prices depend in fact on the cost of the last power plant used to balance the network, mainly gas, whose prices had soared with the war in Ukraine.
“The government will also be able to act on the method of calculation on which the regulated tariff is based,” estimates Nicolas Goldberg, energy consultant at Colombus Consulting. Today, this is based partly on market prices but also on the electricity that EDF is obliged to resell to its competitors at a discounted price. This mechanism must disappear in 2025. What will it be replaced by? »
Arbitrations will weigh heavily on the evolution of electricity prices. And with the gradual reduction of the tariff shield throughout 2024, France runs the risk of quickly finding itself above the European average. Its electricity would then become one of the most expensive on the continent.
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