While electricity prices must fall, a tax applied to bills should, on the contrary, increase this summer.
The drop in the price of electricity will take place on February 1, 2025, but it will not last long. If the announced improvement in the electricity market will lead millions of French people to save on their bills, a new increase in prices is discreetly being prepared.
However, the year 2025 seemed to be off to a good start for some electricity subscribers. After 2 years of inflation in energy prices, the bills of individuals who subscribed to an offer at the regulated EDF sales rate (TRV) increased by 44%. With the reduction in the price of kilowatt hours on the market (-15%), these customers can now expect a reduction in their bill of around 11 to 12%. Thus, from February 1, TRV subscribers will see their annual bill drop by around 135 euros.
This concerns the 20.4 million households subscribing to EDF's regulated tariff, but also the 3 million households having subscribed to a market offer indexed to the regulated tariff. In total, nearly 24 million households, or 58.7% of electricity consumers, will see their charges decrease. However, the celebration may be short-lived.
-Indeed, bills could start to rise again from the summer of 2025, due to the planned increase in a specific tax: the TURPE (Tariff for the Use of Public Electricity Networks). This component, which represents around 30% of an average household's electricity bill including tax, helps finance the delivery of electricity to consumers' meters. All subscribers to the electricity network must pay this tax, including those who have subscribed to an offer with an alternative supplier, such as Total Energies, ENI, Octopus Energy, etc… In short, the 35 million French people who use of electricity on a daily basis will have to put their hands in their pockets.
The TURPE, usually revised every four years, will experience an exceptional double increase in 2025. The first increase of 4.8% will occur on February 1, 2025 for TRV subscribers. This will lead to an increase of 10 euros on the annual household bill. Initially scheduled for August 2024, the 4.8% increase in TURPE was postponed in order to arrive at the same time as the drop in electricity prices on the market. Thus, households should not (too much) feel the effects. However, a second increase in TURPE of 10% should then be applied from August 1, 2025. This increase will represent around 41 additional euros per year for an average household.
This upward revision of the TURPE is recommended by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) to meet the growing needs of network managers. RTE requested a 12.2% increase in its tariff, while Enedis requested an increase of 18.9%. The CRE plans to partially retain these requests, with an average increase of around 10% for the two operators.
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