In recent years, energy prices have increased significantly in France, which obviously impacts the finances of millions of households. As July begins this Monday, a new increase in gas prices is being applied.
Despite the drop in gas prices that suppliers may have witnessed between January and June, the increase in July has indeed been maintained. Thus, from this Monday, the gas bill should increase by 11.7% for the millions of households concerned, which represents an average benchmark price of 13 euro cents per kWh. According to the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), the theoretical annual gas bill will therefore increase from 1,060 euros in July to 1,184 euros this month.
This new increase is notably due to the contribution of third-party access to distribution networks (ATRD), a tax which represents 25 to 30% of individuals’ gas bills. Said contribution is put in place to cover the costs of maintaining the gas network. Moreover, it should be noted that only individuals and businesses are subject to it.
Another factor comes into play in the increase in gas prices, namely the replacement of Russian by American, according to statements by the founder of the consulting firm Omnegy, Nicolas Leclerc, to Capital. On average, households heated with gas will see their bill increase by 5.5%, while that of households that use it for cooking and water will increase by 10.4%. However, CRE indicates that energy suppliers remain free to decide whether to pass on this increase in the benchmark gas price to consumers’ bills.
CRE advice to limit the increase in gas bills
Moreover, “the CRE considered it preferable, in order to reward consumers’ efforts at sobriety while covering the costs borne by suppliers, to limit the increase in the subscription in its benchmark price. Some suppliers have applied this logic and the CRE welcomes it,” we can read in the CRE press release.
But although suppliers have this freedom, “the vast majority of consumers will see this increase reflected in their bills,” estimates the Energy Mediator. “The CRE invites consumers, according to their needs, to compare the different offers available using the public comparator energie-info.fr,” we can read on the website of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
