the proposals of the left and the RN for your energy bills

How can we restore purchasing power to households? By playing on their energy bills, the political forces agree. Electricity prices jumped by 39% in one year, between January 2023 and January 2024. On July 1, the price of gas will increase by almost 12%, announced the Energy Regulatory Commission. the urgency of the situation, the macronist Renaissance party timidly revealed a measure: the creation of a “energy renovation fund” intended for classes “averages” And “popular”, which would make it possible to insulate and decarbonize 300,000 additional homes by 2027, revealed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. And in the process lower household energy bills.

A few days earlier, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, announced that regulated electricity sales prices will decrease by 10 to 15% on February 1, 2025. Good news, allowed, according to him , through an energy policy – recovery of nuclear production and development of photovoltaic panels – inclined to lower electricity stock prices.

VAT reduction for the RN

But it is the two opposition coalitions that have promised to put money on the table to reduce French energy spending. Starting with the National Rally. The far right has placed at the heart of its measures in favor of purchasing power the reduction in the VAT rate from 20% to 5.5% on gas, electricity and fuels. Already in 2022, Marine Le Pen had integrated this measure into her presidential project. Jordan Bardella, the eventual Prime Minister of the National Rally, is taking up this project. It would materialize in a draft amending finance law, and would cost around 10 billion euros per year according to the Montaigne Institute.

A logic followed and deepened by the New Popular Front (NFP). The left-wing groups will decree “the state of social emergency” if they win the elections. It will consist of reducing the margins of energy companies by lowering VAT to an as yet undisclosed rate. To complete its system, the NFP will tighten the screw further by blocking by decree the prices of basic necessities, including electricity, gas and fuels. “Considering a reduction in VAT is only bearable if you block electricity pricesjustified Eric Coquerel, candidate of the New Popular Front in the legislative elections, during a debate on BFM TV. If you do not block prices, it will eventually be company margins that increase and employees who pay the price of inflation.” The left has, again, not specified the level at which the price would be blocked. During the 2022 presidential election, France Insoumise carried out a project to freeze fuel prices between 1.30 and 1.40 euros per liter. Knowing that the price of diesel is currently at 1.68 euros per liter on average and unleaded 95 at 1.80 euros.

Price blocking for the left

Also in the sights of the left: the cancellation of the “Macron tax” on electricity scheduled for February 1, 2025. Through this political formula, the NFP is targeting the scheduled increase in the internal tax on final electricity consumption ( TICFE) which will therefore increase individual taxes by 5 billion euros, an increase of 10%. The government, at the height of the energy crisis, lowered the level of this tax to its minimum level to soften the shock. The left also wants to cancel the increase in gas prices on July 1. THE “first kilowatt hours” electricity will also be free, universally. A measure very vaguely quantified by Bercy at 8.5 billion euros. Conversely, heating cuts will be prohibited.