The energy check budget had to be “sanctuary”, in October, promised the Minister in charge of Energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, during the examination of the finance bill for 2025. A motion of censure later, this aid to the most modest households to reduce the cost of their energy bill is now in the sights of the new government. Wednesday January 15 on BFMTV, the Minister responsible for Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, announced that she wanted “reduce the sail” on the device, since “energy prices are falling”.
“Savings on the backs of the most fragile”
Regulated electricity prices will fall in February, but “the rise in energy prices, particularly electricity, was very significant during the energy crisis and the amount of checks did not increase in proportion to the rise in tariffs, so why should they be adapted to the drop ?” criticizes Antoine Autier, head of the studies and lobby department of UFC-Que Choisir. In response to the explosion in prices, the government opted for exceptional aid of 100 to 200 euros for recipients of the check, in 2021 and 2022, as a gesture to “the purchasing power of the French”, and especially the most modest.
Cutting back on the energy check budget (around 900 million euros annually) amounts to “savings on the backs of the most fragile”, also denounces the consumer association Cnafal. Around 5.6 million households, or 20% of French households, are affected. Depending on their tax income (11,000 euros maximum) and the composition of the household, beneficiaries receive on average 150 euros. Until 2023, the sending was automatic and the share of beneficiaries who actually used this aid to pay their bills exceeded 80% that year. “Recipients received their check without knowing that this assistance existed,” observes Antoine Autier. The administration relied on a cross-checking of tax data and that appearing on the housing tax.
-«Lack of awareness among the general public»
Things started to go wrong in the spring for the launch of the 2024 campaign. Despite multiple alerts from associations, the government did not anticipate the disappearance of the file linked to the housing tax, now extinct. Nearly a million new beneficiaries risked being excluded from the system. A complaints platform was set up, immediately criticized by consumer associations. Without even talking about questions of accessibility for people far from digital, “There is a problem of ignorance among the general public of this platform. Some of the potential beneficiaries will not go and ask for the check. deplores Antoine Autier, who is annoyed by the absence of a major information campaign to try to reduce non-recourse. According to him, only a minority of new beneficiaries actually submitted a request. According to Bercy, “the counter has issued more than 120,000 checks and continues to examine applications that were received between December 29 and 31, 2024”. And the rejected version of the finance bill for 2025 confirmed the abandonment of automatic sending for the next campaign. What does the new version planned by the government include? Will the number of beneficiaries be reduced, or the amount of the check? For the moment, Bercy has not given any details.
Updated 01/20/2025: with the number of checks issued via the complementary counter.
