Will we have hot water this winter? Some French households will, in any case, have to manage their consumption a little more finely. To avoid any risk of blackout, RTE, the electricity network manager, has decided to reduce the off-peak time slots, when electricity is cheaper.
From October 15, and until April 15, 2023, some of the 4.3 million individual customers, but also small professionals and local authorities, who have subscribed to a peak/off-peak hours subscription, will no longer be able to heat their water between noon and 2 p.m.
This type of subscription encourages consumers to shift some of their consumption to times when electricity is less expensive. This allows them to save money, and relieves the network during peak consumption.
Other uses, such as television or electric hobs, are not affected
“In coordination with the public authorities, we have actually asked Enedis, the electricity distributor, to temporarily suspend the automatic switching signal on this time slot, we confirm at RTE. A ministerial decree was issued on September 22. » Enedis will not need to move to perform the manoeuvre. To carry out what it modestly calls a “shift in usage”, the EDF subsidiary will be able to operate directly from a distance thanks to the new Linky smart meters.
Concretely, today, the eight off-peak hours are divided according to two scenarios: between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. (60% of these customers); or else distributed between noon and 5 p.m., and between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the morning (40% of customers). The other sixteen hours are necessarily peak hours, where electricity can be up to three times more expensive.
The off-peak time slot between noon and 5 p.m. will therefore be shortened by two hours for six months, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The heating of the balloons will then take place during the off-peak hours of the night. Peak/off-peak pricing will not change for all other electric activities. Turning on your television or hotplates between noon and 2 p.m. will be done well at the off-peak rate.
Any cuts in a given area are not ruled out, however.
“We have taken this temporary suspension measure in order to further limit the risk of power cuts in the event of excessive consumption peaks”, justifies RTE. According to the manager’s calculations, at 12:30 p.m., it could save up to 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of power, the equivalent of two nuclear reactors. At 1 p.m., it would still save 1 GW.
“Heating accounts for a third of a home’s energy consumption,” recalls François Carlier, deputy director of the consumer association CLCV (Consumption, housing and living environment). And domestic hot water, on average, between 10 and 14%. It is therefore the second item of energy consumption. “But the risk of cut will not be completely ruled out.
“Be careful, these exceptional cuts, if they were to be implemented, would be directly via the medium voltage electricity network, and not individually via the Linky meters”, recalls RTE. These “rotating power cuts” cannot exceed two hours per geographical area, neighborhoods, cities or departments. Hospitals, national defense, industries at risk are not concerned.