“Should we give priority to competition law or the interests of users? »

LState regulation of electricity prices is back in the news. Some are calling for the elimination of regulated sales rates (TRV), while others would, on the contrary, like to generalize them to all users and review their calculation method to reconnect them to production costs. The government must soon submit its copy to Brussels, which should decide on their future in 2025.

Before the opening of the electricity sector to competition, all users benefited from TRVs controlled by the State and based on the national costs of production and transmission of electricity. They evolved slowly and guaranteed a return on investments. If they still existed, we would not have experienced a surge in electricity bills in recent years, at most a temporary increase of a few percent.

In the name of competition

But, at the start of the millennium, European directives imposed the emergence of alternative suppliers to EDF, offering offers based on the European market price. This price, reflecting the operating cost of the most expensive plant (marginal cost), is strongly dependent on world gas prices, which are very volatile and uncontrollable.

Gradually, between 2000 and 2007, businesses and communities, then finally individuals, had access to these offers. But when stock prices started to rise, they became less attractive. Under pressure from alternative suppliers, the European Commission then imposed the abolition of TRVs from 2015 for almost all companies and communities, in the name of competition, and despite the opinions of users.

Taking into account the social risk, they were maintained for households and the smallest businesses and communities, but temporarily and subject to reviewing the method of calculating the “energy” portion of the TRV corresponding to production, to allow suppliers of “offer offers at equal or lower prices” at TRV.

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