The electricity bill for most French households, i.e. more than 24 million subscribers at the regulated rate, will finally drop by 15% on February 1, a first since 2015, the electricity regulatory commission indicated on Thursday January 16. energy (CRE).
This reduction will affect the approximately 20.4 million households subscribed to EDF’s “blue tariff” (60% of the 34 million residential subscribers) to which are added the 4 million subscribers to offers indexed to this tariff, and this despite the increase in a government tax and the increase in the costs of transporting and distributing electricity (Turpe).
For the 10 million individuals who do not depend on regulated prices but subscribe to market offers, the variation will depend on their suppliers, who are free to pass on these increases or not, by playing on their margins.
651 euros less for a family of four
The CRE calculated the savings for households with regulated prices (which use electricity for cooking-hot-water-heating): the reduction would amount to 651 euros per year for a family of four people in a house; 389 euros for a household of three people in an apartment and 107 euros for a two-person household.
“This is the first decline since 2015,” underlined Emmanuelle Wargon, president of CRE, the energy sector watchdog, formalizing the exact level of this decline so far expected at -14%, after two years. sharp increases against a backdrop of the energy crisis. The decline in electricity prices on wholesale markets, after their sharp increase in 2021-2022 against a backdrop of post-Covid recovery and especially the war in Ukraine, will allow “a very substantial drop” in “the energy share” of the bill, emphasized Emmanuelle Wargon.
This will more than offset the two increases applied on February 1. The tax on electricity, lowered to its minimum (1 euro per megawatt hour) during the energy crisis, will rise to its initial level, adjusted for inflation, i.e. 33.70 euros per megawatt hour for individuals compared to 22 euros currently, taking into account thus the end of the tariff shield. The transport and distribution tariff, a toll paid by suppliers and passed on to consumers, will increase by 7.7%.