Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy, spoke on Sunday October 6, 2024 “the risk” to go too far in increasing taxes on electricity, which could weigh on the bills of low-income French people, particularly if they are at an unregulated rate.
The fall in prices on the international market “allows us to return the tax that the French paid before the energy crisis to the pre-crisis level”or at €32 per megawatt hour (MWh) against 22 currently, declared the minister on France 3.
“If the tax returns to its pre-crisis level, as prices have returned to a normal level, the price that the French pay will fall. Simply, we must not go beyond”she continued.
“If we go beyond that, the risk is that there will indeed be an increase in electricity prices. We must be very vigilant because modest French people and the middle classes […] will have double punishment. They are often the ones who live in thermal colanders”underlined the minister.
End of the tariff shield
The previous government had planned to return completely, on 1is February 2025 on the tariff shield, by raising the electricity tax to its maximum amount, which had been lowered to the minimum to relieve the bills of the French during the energy crisis.
Read also: Gas/electricity shields cost 20.4 billion euros in two years
Even with the end of the price shield, French people with regulated tariffs should expect a drop of at least 10% in their bills by the same deadline, the Energy Regulatory Commission announced in September.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher was also concerned about the effects that the increased tax could have on businesses.
“It is also an important element for manufacturers, for bakers, because when there is taxation, it is visible in their costs. And so here too, we will have to be vigilant”she insisted.
“The arbitrations are underway and it is Parliament which will decide” during the examination of the budget, scheduled for next week, she concluded.
