Agnès Pannier-Runacher worries about the “risk” of going too far

The Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy raises a risk of “going too far” if the government increases taxes on electricity on February 1.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy, spoke of “the risk” of going too far in increasing a tax on electricity, which could weigh on the bill of modest French people, particularly if they are at an unregulated rate, calling for people to be “very vigilant” in this matter.

The drop in prices on the international market “makes it possible to return the tax that the French paid before the energy crisis to the pre-crisis level”, i.e. 32 euros MWh compared to 22 currently, she declared on Sunday 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,” he said. -she continued.

“If we go beyond this, the risk is that there will indeed be an increase in the price of electricity. We must be very vigilant because low-income French people and the middle classes (…) will have the double punishment. They are often the ones who live in thermal sieves,” underlined the minister.

Effects on businesses.

The previous government had proposed to completely return to the price shield next February, by raising to its maximum amount a tax on electricity to 32 euros per MWh which had been lowered to the minimum to relieve the bills of the French during the energy crisis.

Even with the end of the tariff 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.

Ms. 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 next week, she concluded.