the essential
A few days before the end of a decisive legislative election, the debates around the 11.7% increase in the gas bill on July 1st have been an integral part of the campaign. This increase, announced for several months, is explained by the increasing cost of transporting energy and by the need to modernize the network.
After a respite of several months, the average annual gas bill will rise by 124 euros at the start of summer, going from 1,060 euros in June to 1,184 euros on July 1.
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This increase is due to a rebound effect of prices on the gas markets where operators obtain their supplies. But, above all, it is linked to the significant revaluation of gas transport costs borne by GRDF, the distribution network manager.
Gas is transported from production sites to consumption areas via the distribution network, explains the energy supplier comparator Selectra. In France, GRDF is the leading natural gas supply operator and manages more than 200,000 kilometers of network.
25% of the final bill
These energy transport services have a cost, the amount of which is defined by the CRE (the Energy Regulatory Commission) for a period of four years. The bill of an end customer automatically includes, in addition to its consumption, the gas transport share corresponding to 25% of the final bill.
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But the “average benchmark price” calculation system includes a mechanism for automatically adjusting the price grid on July 1 of each year. According to the CRE, the “average benchmark price” of kWh, which has tended to fall in recent months, will be set for July at around 13 cents, an increase of 11.7% compared to the June index (around 11 cents/kWh).
This amount is “indicative” and suppliers remain “free” to pass it on or not, underlines the CRE. However, according to the Energy Mediator, “the vast majority of consumers will see this increase passed on to their bills”, i.e. most of the 10 million residential customers connected via GRDF services.
Network modernization essential
This cost, invoiced to suppliers by the network manager, must also be increased to meet theincreased expenditure on maintenance and modernization of gas infrastructurewhile allowing the integration of green gas into the pipes.
In 2023, GRDF launched a network renovation program estimated at 250 million euros in order to identify and replace, if necessary, around 8 million gas connections in buildings. On the other hand, the distribution network itself is aging. It needs to be renovated in order to avoid disasters such as the gas leak that caused the death of four people and left 400 homeless in Paris in 2019. Investments have been postponed repeatedly, Jacky Bonnemains, spokesperson for the NGO Robins des Bois, complained in 2023 to Marianne.
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This increase, finally, comes in a context of a continuous decline in the number of gas subscribers: between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, there will be 197,000 fewer customers, according to the CRE. The distribution of costs is affected and the bills of the French still supplied with gas can only increase.
