Energy check – A system now directly attacked by the Government – Action UFC-Que Choisir

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Energy check

Published on October 16, 2024

According to the figures communicated to us by the administration, only 3% of potential new beneficiaries of the energy check in 2024 have obtained it to date. This situation confirms the strong fears that we had expressed to the ministerial administration, given the lack of communication and the difficulty for the households concerned to register on the digital platform set up.

The 2025 “energy check” campaign promises to be even more difficult: to be able to claim your check, you would potentially have to systematically register on a new digital platform, to communicate your PDL number (electrical delivery point), the tax number of the holder of the energy supply contract, and provide proof of his or her place of residence.

Our organizations consider that the beneficiaries of the energy check, 20% of the population, or 5.6 million households, often living below the poverty line, should not be victims of the end of automatic payment of the energy check. Consumer associations have the feeling that the government is deliberately making access to the energy check more complex to achieve budgetary savings to the detriment of the most deprived. However, the finance bill gives the administration the power to establish a list of energy check beneficiaries by crossing the reference tax income with the number of tax shares. It will therefore be possible to identify all households whose reference tax income is lower than the ceiling of 11,000 euros per consumption unit and thus protect them from an additional risk of loss of purchasing power, especially since tax increases are planned on electricity.

Given the above, our organizations call on the Government as well as all parliamentarians required to examine the finance bill for 2025 to:

• Protect a sufficient budgetary envelope to revalue the amount of the energy check, and thus support households in situations of energy poverty whose reference tax income is currently less than 11,000 euros: the energy check must not only cover the cost of the the increase in taxes and the inflation experienced in energy prices since 2019;
• Ensure, through the payment methods of the check:
  • not to “forget” households eligible for the energy check for the year 2025 and to exclude any system based on a prior request from beneficiaries;
  • to use the reference tax income to automate its allocation;
• Immediately, extend the life of the digital platform aimed at identifying new beneficiaries of the 2024 campaign beyond December 31, 2024.​​​​​