For the majority of French people, electricity prices will fall from 1is FEBRUARY. For the regulated electricity sales tariff (TRVE), there is little doubt about this. This TRVE, supervised by public authorities and necessarily offered by historic suppliers (EDF blue tariffs), changes twice a year, in February and August. At each of these deadlines, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), responsible for the proper functioning of the electricity and gas markets, submits a price review to the Ministries of Energy and Industry.
15% drop in TRVE as of February 1
However, this Thursday, the CRE proposed a 15% reduction in the average level of the TRVE. This decrease is largely due to the drop in electricity supply costs. We are, for the moment at least, on a gradual return to normal after the surge in energy prices which reached its peak at the start of the war in Ukraine.
Concretely, since the 1is February, regulated electricity sales prices amounted to an average of €281 including tax/MWh. The CRE proposes to set them at €239 including tax/MWh on 1is February 2025, i.e. a reduction of €42 including tax/MWh on average.
At the last count (1is September 2024), 20.4 million French people (60% of households) had a TRVE electricity contract, for an average consumption of 4.4 MWh per year and an average bill of €1,240 including tax/year. For equal consumption, this average bill should increase to 1,050 including tax/year, a drop of around €190 including tax/year, calculates the CRE.
-A majority of French people take advantage of it, but…
These 24.5 million French people at TRVE will not be the only winners. This regulated tariff also serves as a compass on the electricity market, with alternative suppliers regularly offering electricity supply offers indexed to it. Around 4 million customers of these alternative suppliers have subscribed to such contracts to date and will therefore also see the 15% reduction applied on 1is FEBRUARY.
There remains the case of individuals who have subscribed to a market offer not indexed to the TRVE, most often at a fixed price. They will not see their bills drop from next month. It’s even the opposite. This is the whole trap of a significant drop in the price of electricity on wholesale markets: it makes everything else invisible. However, this is only one component of the price of the kWh billed to individuals. Two others are taxes and the electricity transmission tariff (Turpe). However, these will increase on 1is FEBRUARY. French people who have subscribed to non-indexed offers will suffer them like others, but without compensation. In fact, alternative suppliers have already reflected the drop in electricity prices on the wholesale markets over the past year in their offers, which have thus become very competitive in recent times compared to the TRVE.
These developments at 1is February could reshuffle the cards again. Now more than ever is the time to compare your offer with those of competing suppliers. The electricity and gas comparator What to Choose is here to help you.
