Be careful if you have chosen this pricing option on your electricity contract: you risk paying much more than expected and regretting your choice.
For two years now, the cost of energy has exploded all over the world, and France is no exception to the phenomenon. If gas prices have reached dizzying heights, electricity prices have not been spared either. Limited for a time by the tariff shield mechanism, put in place by the Government at the height of the energy crisis, the rise in electricity prices for individuals is starting again and will hit many households in power hard. purchasing price already strongly eroded by galloping inflation and stagnant wages.
In fact, since 1er February 2024, the regulated electricity prices in France, marketed by the main French producer and supplier EDF, have been revised and the increases are significant to say the least. Wanting to be reassuring, the Government announced increases limited to a maximum of 10% of the overall bill for the French. Unfortunately, this promise will not be kept for all users and some will experience much greater increases.
As indicated by EDF on a page from its website, if customers subscribed to the Base and Off-Peak options will see the increases contained (barely) to 10% maximum, those having subscribed to the Tempo option will on the other hand experience an average increase of 14.2% in the amount of their bill and may even pay more depending on their energy consumption profile. Many households are affected, the number of subscribers to this option having increased from 200,000 to 500,000 in 2023!
The Tempo option in fact applies differentiated prices per kWh according to the time of day, on the same principle as the Off-peak Hours option, but also according to the days of the year, with three distinct price bands, Blue, White and Red, ranging from the cheapest to the most expensive. And according to the price list for 2024 published by EDFthe price increases per kWh in these brackets promise to be steep: for the off-peak tariffs of three brackets, these are increases of 22.73%, 19.26% and 18.07% in the price per kWh compared to August 2023 waiting for customers!
Certainly, the Tempo option is intended to be virtuous, both for individuals and for the community. But to really benefit from it, and make real savings, you must be able to postpone or cancel your consumption, absolutely avoiding using electrical appliances on Red days, where the price is three times higher than that of the basic option. This is not the case for everyone, especially those who heat and cook with electricity and who have no choice in winter, when temperatures drop. Especially since subscribers are sometimes only notified of a Red day the day before, without being able to anticipate it!
The Tempo option should therefore be chosen with full knowledge of the facts. To avoid unpleasant surprises, take the time to consult EDF’s 2024 price list and analyze your consumption during the day and the year, in order to return to the Base option if you are not not able to schedule your uses on the least expensive ranges of the Tempo option.