Towards a change of off-peak and peak hours?

Implemented in France in the 1960s, the “Peak Hours/Off-peak Hours” system aimed to cope with peaks in electricity consumption, by favoring nuclear electricity, which was more available during the night. Nowadays, while renewable energies – including, for the most part, photovoltaics – play an increasingly significant role, and electrical uses are also evolving (notably with heating and electric cars), the device in place has become less relevant. It will therefore undergo an overhaul, aiming to make it more in line with periods of greater or lesser demand on the network, and to allow around 14 million French people to benefit from even more advantageous rates.

Peak Hours / Off-peak Hours: how does the system work today?

EDF's peak hours/off-peak hours (or HP/HC) option is based on kilowatt-hour (kWh) pricing that varies depending on the time range of consumption. The price, more advantageous during off-peak hours, not only reduces the customer's electricity bill (on average by 25 to 30% if they distribute around 30% of their consumption to off-peak hours), but also regulates , throughout the day, the overall demand for electricity… and, therefore, the risk of congestion in the electricity network. Concretely, the HP/HC tariff option provides for 16 hours of peak hours per day, necessarily including the periods 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and 8 hours of off-peak hours per day, which will necessarily be between 12 p.m.-5 p.m. and 8 p.m.-8 a.m. The distribution of HP / HC depends on the type of electricity meter the consumer is equipped with. If it has an electronic counter, the time slots are defined on the basis of geographical division by zones. If it is equipped with the Linky meter, the distribution is determined randomly, always on the basis of geographical division by zones. The entity which defines the time slots for the HP/HC option is no longer EDF, as at the origin of the device. It is in fact now the electricity network manager who plays this role, that is to say Enedis, in 95% of cases, or for the remaining 5%, a local distribution company (ELD).

What changes are coming?

Since mid-May 2024, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has undertaken, with Enedis, a vast project to overhaul the current system. The main objective of the new system, which should see the light of day on August 1, 2025, is to take into account the abundant production of electricity in summer, thanks to photovoltaics. Thus, from November to March, off-peak hours should be moved from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. In summer, the slots from 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. – 11 p.m. will be dedicated to them. Other HC time slots could also be set up from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. These changes should be implemented gradually from the end of 2025.