The ax has fallen, one of the main components of the price of electricity in France will be revised upwards from November 1, 2024. What will be the impact for consumers?
The decision was postponed as much as possible by the Government, but the sentence ended up being handed down at the end of the summer. In a press release dated September 11, 2024the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has confirmed the upward revision of the tariff for the use of public electricity networks, better known by its nickname “TURPE”.
This price is one of the main components of the price of electricity paid by consumers in France, alongside production and taxes. Concretely, it corresponds to the costs of transporting electricity to the end user, and falls to the distribution network managers, to finance both the maintenance and improvement of infrastructure.
In order to take into account inflation and investments made by network managers, TURPE is revalued every year. This update normally takes place in August, but this year the Government asked the CRE to postpone this review for several months. So, TURPE will increase by 4.81% from 1er November 2024.
However, the impact of this increase should be relatively limited, or even imperceptible, for a large part of consumers. First of all, the share of transmission in the overall price of electricity is around 30%; a revaluation of 4.81% of TURPE would therefore lead to an increase of only 1.5% in the price of kWh on users’ bills.
Moreover, the application of this increase was exceptionally postponed to 1er February 2025at the same time as the annual review of the production portion of the Regulated Electricity Sales Tariffs (TRVE). And according to CRE forecasts, the evolution of production costs and taxation should result to an overall reduction of 10% in the price of electricityincrease in TURPE included.
However, only consumers benefiting from regulated electricity prices will benefit from this reduction. However, only individuals and Very Small Businesses (VSEs) are eligible. Large and medium-sized companies, or individuals who have subscribed to a contract at market prices, could thus see their suppliers increase prices from 1er next November.
For consumers in this situation, it is strongly recommended to analyze the pricing clauses of their contract now. Indeed, even certain so-called “fixed price” market subscriptions may contain a review clause in the event of an increase in the TURPE. And if individuals can always return to an offer at regulated prices, others will unfortunately be forced to endure the increase or try to renegotiate their contract.