The bad news was announced in February, it has now been confirmed. Gas prices will increase next month for the 10.5 million households who have a natural gas subscription. But the effect of this increase will vary depending on the users. The total bill for a customer who heats with gas will increase by 5.5% from July 1 and that of customers who also use gas for cooking and hot water by 10.4%, indicates a press release from the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), published in February.
In question, a 27.5% increase in the access rate for third parties to GRDF’s public gas distribution network for the next four years. This is the rate which makes it possible to remunerate the managers of the gas distribution network and to maintain their activities over the long term. We explain to you why an increase is necessary.
Rising costs
If this third party access rate to GRDF’s public gas distribution network is increasing so much, it is first of all because GRDF is reporting a general increase in its costs. This increase in charges for the gas distributor is explained in particular by “energy prices” but is also linked to “increasing obligations in terms of maintenance and safety”, underlines the CRE deliberation of January 25, 2024 relating to a draft decision on the equalized tariff for the use of GRDF’s public natural gas distribution networks.
For the period 2024-2027, CRE estimated that the costs to be covered would increase by 10% compared to 2022.
The necessary ecological transition
This new price is also part of the context of ecological transition and the gradual increase in the share of green gas. GRDF has set itself the objective of achieving 20% green gas in the networks in 2030 and 100% in 2050. But this progression of renewable gas implies adapting the network accordingly, and therefore investments.
The increase in the third-party access tariff to GRDF’s public gas distribution network for the next four years therefore takes these issues into account and, according to CRE, “gives GRDF the means to contribute to the energy transition, particularly by retaining an increase in maintenance budgets and personnel associated with the reception of biomethane in the networks. For its part, the company believes in a press release that this increase in the price “means GRDF to contribute to the ecological transition, particularly with regard to the resources allocated to the reception of renewable and low carbon gases in the networks”.
A decreasing number of users
Although distributors’ costs are increasing, gas consumption has fallen in recent years, particularly as a result of high prices and the efforts at sobriety requested by the government. Gas consumption thus decreased by 6.61% per year over the period 2022-2023 and the number of consumers by 0.69%. And according to the CRE, the decline should continue soon, by 2.02% per year for consumption and 1.54% per year on average for the number of consumers.
However, this drop in consumption does not necessarily lead to a reduction in the gas transport network. “The current gas transport network remains largely necessary even in the event of a pronounced drop in consumption, to compensate for the geographical and temporal differences between consumption and production”, underlined in April 2023 a CRE report on the future gas infrastructure by 2030 and 2050.
Consequence: “these stable or only slightly decreasing fixed costs will therefore be borne by a smaller user base than today, which will lead to further increases in tariff terms”, warns the CRE in its deliberation dated 25 January 2024. “It’s good news that consumption is falling, it’s good for the planet, it’s also good for purchasing power moreover […] But since we still need the pipes just as much and we have the same requirement for quality and safety, if we spread the expenses of using the network over less consumption, necessarily consumer by consumer, that’s a little bit more.” , Emmanuelle Wargon, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission, declared last February on -.
