For its new electricity contract, the City of Tréport anticipates prices a year in advance

See my news
Follow Eu’s Informant

THE energy prices have fluctuated unreasonably since the start of 2022.

Cities have seen their bills explode, which has led many to turn off street lights at night to save money.

At Tréport, in Seine-Maritimeas elsewhere, elected officials want to do everything to return to reasonable prices. It is in this context that the municipal council validated its new electricity contract with Engie, which will be valid… from January 1, 2026.

And Mayor Laurent Jacques explains that for these negotiations with electricity suppliers, the conditions imposed were drastic: “the supply candidates for this market impose response times which may seem surprising”.

Rapid validation, but prices applied in 2026

The City should have responded to calls for tenders within 5 hours, which it managed to negotiate to extend this deadline to 24 hours.

This therefore means that once the call for tenders is completed, elected officials have 24 hours to open the candidates' envelopes, convene the call for tenders committee, then validate the offer in the municipal council, which she did on Wednesday October 23, 2024.

The situation is all the more surprising as this new electricity contract, validated in just a few hours, will come into force in more than a year. “But we saw that the price of electricity was low at the moment. It has almost reached its level before 2022, there is little chance of it going any lower. We therefore decided to sign now, but it is true that the price could be lower in 2026, we cannot be sure,” explains the mayor.

With such fluctuations, elected officials sometimes have to become stock market specialists, ready to anticipate market prices, or even speculate to keep their city's finances in the green.

A bill divided by two

With this new contract, the City will almost divide by two its electricity bill: €370,000 including tax for the year (depending on volumes consumed in 2023), compared to €730,000 including tax at the moment. “We are not making savings, but we are returning to something normal compared to what the price of energy was before the crisis,” explains Mayor Laurent Jacques. Until this new contract is effective, the municipality will still have to pay the high price in 2025.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.