2024-01-12 17:15:17
The French are finding it increasingly difficult to pay their electricity bills and fuel poverty is increasing. A few weeks before an announced increase, the UFC-Que Choisir is sounding the alarm. This Friday, the association is asking the government for a “freeze” of the regulated electricity tariff (TRVE). 20% of French people – or 12 million – reported having suffered from the cold during the winter of 2021.
“The UFC-Que Choisir today denounces the prospect of a new increase in the price of electricity of 10% on February 1 without any link to the real costs of electricity production in France, and is alarmed by the dramatic consequences it would have on households,” she warns in a press release.
A gas tax almost doubled
The consumer defense association asks the new government “to show its desire to work to preserve the purchasing power of consumers by freezing the increase (…) or at least by limiting it so that it does not exceed 2.5%, i.e. the expected inflation in 2024.” For several months, the executive has been organizing the gradual exit from the tariff shield, deployed since the end of 2021 to moderate the impact of the surge in gas and electricity prices caused in particular by the war in Ukraine.
Since January 1, the government has already almost doubled the excise on gas – a tax paid by natural gas suppliers – which should increase the bill for subscribers. And it could also increase electricity prices in February. The regulated rate, from which the majority of households benefit, is reviewed twice a year, on February 1st and August 1st.
The grim prospect of higher taxes
The government has repeatedly mentioned in recent months an increase not exceeding 10% in February. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), watchdog of the sector, proposed this week, before taking into account taxation, a stable price (+0.01% excluding tax) for individuals and a slight decrease (- 3.67% excluding tax) for professionals. A proposal which takes into account the “decrease in the cost of supply”, due to the “relaxation of prices on the wholesale electricity market in 2023”.
Price moderation could, however, be undermined in the event of a tax increase by the government. The CRE says it has worked, at the request of the executive, on two hypotheses: in the event that the government decides to maintain the excise price on electricity “at its current level of 1 euro/MWh”, the variation in TRVE would be “-0.01% including tax for residential customers and -3.59% including tax for non-residential customers”. On the other hand, in the case where the excise rate would be “increased to the level of the ceiling set by the finance law for 2024 of 22.54 euros/MWh”, the variation in TRVE would be “+10% including tax for residential customers and +6.20% including tax for non-residential customers,” according to CRE.
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