Will your electricity bill decrease or increase on February 1st? Thanks to the sharp drop in prices on the wholesale market, French people who have subscribed to an offer at the regulated electricity sales rate or indexed to this rate should see their bill decrease by 14% from next month, according to the Commission energy regulation (CRE).
Conversely, those who have chosen a fixed price offer or which follows wholesale market prices should expect an increase in their bill, reports Moneyvox. The reason? The increase in the excise on electricity and the tariff for the use of public electricity networks (Turpe).
From February 1, the excise on electricity (formerly the Internal Tax on Final Electricity Consumption, TICFE) – one of the taxes applied to the bills of all French consumers (individuals and professionals) – will be reinstated to its level before the energy crisis of 2022.
As a reminder, in February 2022, the French government established a price shield on electricity to limit the impact of the surge in energy prices, triggered by the war in Ukraine and the economic recovery after the health crisis, on households and businesses. Excise rates were then lowered to their minimum levels authorized by European law, i.e. €0.5 per megawatt hour for professionals and €1 per megawatt hour for individuals and similar, compared to €32.44 per MWh before the crisis. .
On February 1, 2024, excise rates were increased to €20.50/MWh for businesses and €21/MWh for households and similar as part of the gradual exit from the tariff shield.
On February 1, they will return to their pre-crisis level, adjusted for inflation, i.e. €26.23/MWh for small and medium-sized businesses and €33.70/MWh for individuals and the like. Concretely, this represents an annual increase of €107.95 for a household consuming 8,500 kWh per year, according to calculations by our colleagues.
In addition to this increase in excise duty, there is an increase in the tariff for the use of public electricity networks (Turpe), which is used to finance the transport of electricity from production centers to final places of consumption (companies, housing…). Its amount will increase by 7.7% on February 1, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) announced last week in a press release.
However, Turpe represents between 20 and 30% of consumers' electricity bill. For a household which pays €1,800 per year for electricity consumption of 8,500 kWh, the 7.7% increase in Turpe will therefore cost it €27 per year if it represents 20% of its bill and more than 40 € if its share is 30%, according to Moneyvox.
If the increase in excise and Turpe also applies to offers at the regulated sales rate or indexed to this rate, it will be offset by the sharp drop in electricity prices on the wholesale markets. This is why the CRE plans a reduction in regulated electricity sales prices of around 14% on February 1.
