How to avoid power cuts this winter in France? The “sobriety plan”, if it is respected, should avoid the country from binding load shedding.
Will France experience power cuts, affecting individuals, businesses, but also schools and transport? The government prepared the spirits at the beginning of December, by communicating on the work carried out by the executive on the subject; the requests made to the prefects to set up electrical load shedding have quite logically generated fears about what awaits us.
Emmanuel Macron, he wanted to reassure by insisting on one point, Sunday, December 4, 2022: “It is the responsibility of the government, in connection with the competent actors, to prepare these scenarios and to allow the country not to be in disorder. If all together we stick to the sobriety plan, that is to say reduce our consumption by 10%, if we are all a little careful and EDF continues the work.(…) then yes we can pass , even with a cold month of December and January, this period”, said the president on TF1. Electricity manager RTE said it was likely that the 2022-2023 winter conditions would allow the country to go through the next few weeks without load shedding, but a drop in electricity consumption would be welcome.
The sobriety plan is therefore of significant importance. This, presented on October 6, sets the objective of reducing energy consumption by 10% in the next two years. From the State to private companies, including communities and individuals, everyone is called upon to play a role in energy savings.
Individuals must also make efforts to participate in the energy sobriety strategy. Agnès Pannier-Runacher repeated that the French in a situation of fuel poverty would not be called upon to deprive themselves of more energy, on the other hand she invited all those who can to adopt the eco-gestures to reduce energy consumption. And to educate individuals on the right gestures, the minister presented the advertising campaign : “Every gesture counts”. The campaign works on a slogan: “I lower, I turn off, I shift”. Three ideas translated into five main gestures:
- Set the heating to 19 degrees
- Set the water heater to 55 degrees and reduce the duration of showers
- Unplug electronic devices when not in use
- Switch off unused electronic devices
- Install a programmable thermostat, this last measure being facilitated by financial aid of 65 euros paid by the State.
Five advertising spots of about thirty seconds form the campaign and are widely broadcast on screens until February 2023, specified Agnès Pannier-Runacher. In addition to this help to act better, individuals are also encouraged to reduce their consumption or to act according to the instructions of the sobriety plan. The government has planned to encourage the use of carpooling by offering from January 2023 a bonus of 100 euros issued to all new carpoolers.
The State and public administrations must be exemplary in terms of energy sobriety and are subject to 30 measures provided for in the sobriety plan. Civil Service Minister Stanislas Guérini insisted on some of them:
- Do not use the heater above 19 degrees, 18 during peak consumption and when the Ecowatt signal is red
- Remove the obligation of hot water in the toilets with the exception of the showers
- Limit speed to 110 km/h instead of 130 during business trips made with a service vehicle
- Limit the use of screens by disconnecting or even removing all non-essential screens
- Use “quick win” renovation works for public buildings
- Encourage telework three or four days a week
This last point raised many questions. For the time being, teleworking only concerns the administration but can be set up in the private sector by decision of the management. Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Stanislas Guérini explained that they are conducting an experiment to determine whether energy consumption is higher when employees are in person or when they work from home.
Administrative agents supported and trained thanks to the sobriety plan
The measures concerning the administrations are central to the sobriety plan but they come with different means of support, specified Minister Stanislas Guérini, the main ones of which: the incentive to telecommute with theincrease in the daily telework allowance by 15%i.e. from €2.50/day to €2.85/day and the training of 25,000 executives from the State civil service to the ecological transition by 2024. This training will last three half-days according to information from France info : one dedicated to theory and raising awareness of the effects of global warming with explanations from the IPCC; one in the field in an organic farm or a renovated administration with workshops to learn how to act in favor of the environment; finally a third half-day to define the action plans and the solutions to be implemented.
In addition to being trained in ecological transition, civil servants must be trained in theeco driving to reduce energy consumption on the roads during business trips. To add to the challenge of achieving the objectives of the sobriety plan, certain senior civil servants could see their remuneration conditional on the effective reduction of energy consumption.
What does the sobriety plan provide for businesses?
For the companies on which a large part of the sobriety plan weighs, a charter has been drawn up by the main unions and submitted to the government. The text provides for sixteen concrete actions spread over four major areas:
- The fight against energy waste
- heating automation
- Employee mobility
- Optimization of work organization
In the business world, two measures often come up: lowering the heating to 19 degrees or even 17 when the premises are empty and turning off night lights or as soon as the premises are closed. Depending on the sectors of activity, other measures are added, such as lowering the temperature of the water, particularly in hotel establishments, which will also pay a lot of attention to the complete extinction of cooking equipment, which represents a high energy consumption both gas and electricity.
Efforts are also required from local authorities as part of the energy sobriety plan. Here too, major measures adapted to communities stand out:
- Lower the heating by 2 degrees in the gymnasiums and put it “frost protection” during peak consumption
- Lower the water temperature in swimming pools by one degree and find less energy and water-intensive systems to operate nautical centers
- Reduce public lighting by using low-consumption equipment and reducing lighting time by switching off streetlights earlier or installing motion detectors. Note that illuminated signs must be extinguished from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. according to a decree published in the Official Journal this Thursday, October 6, 2022.
- Reduce stadium lighting “by 50% before and after matches during the day, and by 30% in the evening”
If efforts are required from public authorities, Minister Christophe Béchu also announced the release of a green fund of 1.5 billion euros from next year to help the territories to fight against global warming. climatic.