The measure would bring the State 3 billion euros and will affect all households and businesses, except large industrialists. “A tax increase applies to everyone, whether on a regulated rate or on a market offer», underlines a supplier.
The amount of this taxwill exceed the pre-crisis amount but will guarantee a reduction of 9% for households with regulated sales tariffs (TRV) or contracts indexed to this TRV», assured a source at Bercy.
If electricity prices have fallen sharply on the markets, the 22.4 million households and businesses with regulated tariff contracts (56% of subscribers) in February will benefit less than expected.
The energy regulation commission (CRE) still anticipated last month a drop in “at least 10%» of the electricity bill in the scenario of a return of the tax to 32 euros per MWh. In recent months, the former Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had promised a reduction of 10% to 15%.
The amount of the tax still remains to be decided. “To take into account the high uncertainty on prices excluding tax (the cost of electricity itself, editor’s note) which will last until the end of December 2024, a decree determining the amount of the excise is referred to», Indicates the press kit for the draft budget. It will be in February, according to Bercy.
EDF dividend
The electricity group, 100% owned by the State, will have to contribute 2 billion euros through the payment of a dividend to its sole shareholder. The measure was included in the finance bill to replace a mechanism for taxing production tools (power plants of energy companies), an avenue which had triggered an outcry in the energy sector, fearing a threat for its investments in carbon-free electricity.
End of reduced VAT on gas boilers
To comply with European regulations and France’s decarbonization objectives, the draft budget plans to exclude gas boilers from the scope of VAT reduced to 5.5% or 10%: they will now be taxed at full rate of 20%. Hoped gain for the government: 200 million euros, but “counterproductive, risky and unjustified overtaxation, especially for the poorest households», denounced Jean-Charles Colas-Roy, president of Coénove (gas sector), before the publication of the budget. Around 400,000 gas boilers are sold each year in France.
Energy check: new criteria
The government wants to review the criteria for payment of the energy check and is proposing new eligibility conditions. Until now, eligible households were identified on the basis of their income and their housing tax (to determine occupancy). However, this disappeared in 2023 for main residences. From now on, to determine the beneficiaries, the administration will rely on the intersection of the electricity delivery point number of the home and the reference tax income of the tax household, one of the declarants of which is the holder of the electricity contract.
Regulated price of nuclear electricity
The finance bill proposes to set the new framework for regulating the price of nuclear electricity, replacing the current system which expires on January 1, 2026. The latter allowed consumers to benefit from volumes of cheap nuclear electricity thanks to an administered price. As EDF will in the future be required to sell all of its electricity production on the markets in 2026, the State wants to establish a mechanism for deducting part of EDF’s income when it exceeds a certain “so-called “taxation” threshold”, in order to redistribute it to consumers. The objective: to provide consumers with stable prices close to production costs. “All of the revenue thus collected will be allocated to financing the mechanism for reducing the price to the final consumer.”, according to the press kit for the bill.
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