Government requests new opinion from Energy Regulatory Commission

The Minister Delegate for Energy has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission to conduct a new deliberation on the evolution of electricity prices, according to a decision published on Saturday, August 31 in Official Journal.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) recommended increasing the Turpe (public electricity network usage tariff) by 4.8%, one of the three components of the electricity bill alongside taxes and the price of electricity itself.

Ce “network rate” is reviewed every year in August to take into account the increase in transmission costs of the distribution manager Enedis, which are paid by suppliers and passed on to consumers, individuals and professionals.

The government had decided in mid-July not to implement a 1% increase in the electricity bill, a way of avoiding a « yo-yo » incomprehensible prices for consumers, Bercy had then justified, which thus avoided a new controversy over energy bills, in the midst of a political crisis.

Significant increases in 2022

If this revision had been applied, the bill of 22 million households and businesses at the regulated electricity tariff would have increased by around 1%. “The increase in the Turpe proposed by the CRE on 1^is August 2024 would mechanically lead to an increase in the price paid by a large number of consumers (…) » who have already faced significant increases in 2022 “despite the protective measures put in place by the government”explains Roland Lescure in his opinion.

“Your deliberation of June 26, 2024 does not take sufficient account of this energy policy orientation relating to the control, stability and good understanding of the price of electricity for the consumer”continues the resigning minister in his opinion.

He therefore asks the CRE to establish “a new draft decision on the development of tariffs for public electricity distribution networks, taking this orientation into better account”.