Tenants of the Hautes-Alpes public housing office (OPH 05) discovered this summer that their electricity bills had increased significantly.
The bill is particularly steep for tenants of the Hautes-Alpes public housing office (OPH 05). As every year, the main social landlord in the department has sent a regularization of electricity charges, but the amount is significantly higher than usual this year.
Accustomed to moderate regulations, the tenants of these social housing units received a letter from OPH 05 this summer indicating a substantial increase in charges, particularly concerning electricity. Tenants will have to pay an additional month’s rent for charges.
Lives turned upside down
“I have to pay 621 euros in additional charges,” confides Guy, a tenant of the Les Garcins residence in Briançon. A similar figure for Bernard, who lives in a two-room apartment in the Citadel building in the same town. “I pay 607 euros more.”
Some tenants point out that they are forced to open their windows because the heating is too high. This increase is a blow to Agathe, who has lived in Les Garcins for 23 years.
“I believe that the arrival of this regularization, for me exorbitant and brutal in the sense that I did not expect it, has thwarted life plans.”
A renegotiation of the EDF contract at the worst possible time
The social landlord assures that it is well aware of the problem but indicates that it cannot do otherwise. “We renegotiated our EDF contract at the end of 2022 for a start in early 2023. This resulted in tripling the price we had until then,” explains general manager Christophe Aloisio.
This specifies that a renegotiation with the energy supplier should make it possible to reduce charges from 2026.
Arnaud Veyret with Florent Bascoul
