Without the intervention of the State, which has promised to limit the next increase to 4%, the regulated electricity tariff would have increased by 44.5% for individuals on February 1. %. This is what the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) said on Wednesday. A measure criticized by the Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate which judges that they “hardly weaken” the energy company when it “must finance colossal investments”.
“An increase of 4% including tax on average in the TRVE (regulated tariff, editor’s note) will represent an increase of approximately 38 EUR/year on the bill of a residential customer and of approximately 60 EUR/year for a professional customer. In the absence of measures, the increase would be 330 EUR/year for a residential customer and 540 EUR/year for a professional customer”, specifies the regulator.
At the end of September, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a “tariff shield” on energy, including a limitation to 4% of the increase in regulated electricity tariffs in 2022. The measure ultimately proved to be more complicated and costly than expected to implement. The State will first reduce the internal tax on final electricity consumption (TICFE) to a minimum, a measure which alone will reduce the increase in TRVE to 20.04% including tax for households.
EDF forced to sell cheap nuclear electricity
But it was not enough to lower the bill, Bruno Le Maire told Le Parisien on January 13. Also “we are therefore going to implement an additional measure by increasing by 20 terawatt hours (TWh) the volume of nuclear electricity sold at a reduced price by EDF to its competitors, to increase it exceptionally from 100 to 120 TWh”.
“This measure will automatically be passed on to the bills of individuals, whether households or businesses that buy their electricity at the regulated rate,” he added. This measurement is made within the framework of the mechanism called Arenh (“regulated access to historical nuclear electricity”).
Pompili: “Money from nuclear power plants that are amortized”
“I think it’s normal that we ask this to EDF, because it’s money from nuclear power stations that are depreciated” and “who paid for the construction of these nuclear power stations? It is the French taxpayers, so it is normal that in a period of crisis, in an exceptional period, that we ask for exceptional aid from EDF, “said the Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili.
“They are not selling at a loss, they had planned for this price increase to make them a lot of money, it will make them less money than they had planned, it is a shortfall but they are not losing no money,” said the minister.
The government’s decision was described this week as a “real shock” by EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy in an internal message to executives of the company, which is nearly 84% state-owned. For their part, the four main unions in the energy sector called for a strike at EDF on January 26, in order to protest against government measures.
Senate fears 2023 catch-up
Once the taxation has been reduced and the volumes of ARENH made available, the Energy Regulatory Commission will assess “the possible catch-up to be carried out in 2023 on the regulated sale tariffs, the level of which will depend on the market prices in 2022 and any measures that will be taken”, indicates the regulator.
The Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate deplores the measures “poorly anticipated, poorly evaluated and poorly calibrated” and says “to wonder about the government’s overall strategy in the face of soaring energy prices”. She believes that “the tariff freeze announced a few weeks before the first round of the presidential election is a short-term measure, which will weigh on all energy suppliers and will ultimately affect consumers, individuals and professionals alike, from 2023”.