Electricity bills for most French households, accounting for more than 24 million regulated-tariff subscribers, will decrease by 15% on 1 February, marking the first reduction since 2015, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) on Thursday.
This decrease will affect around 20.4 million households subscribed to EDF's "blue tariff" and an additional four million with offers indexed to this tariff, despite a government tax increase and higher electricity distribution costs (TURPE).
For the ten million individuals subscribed to market offers, changes will depend on their suppliers, who may or may not pass on the increases based on their profit margins.
The CRE calculated savings for households on regulated tariffs using electricity for cooking, heating water, and house heating. A family of four in a house could save €651 per year, a three-person household in an apartment could save €389, and a two-person household could save €107.
"This is the first decrease since 2015," highlighted Emmanuelle Wargon, President of the CRE. She noted that the reduction was initially estimated to be -14% after two years of significant increases due to the energy crisis.
The decline in electricity prices on the wholesale markets, which had surged in 2021-2022 due to post-Covid recovery and the invasion of Ukraine, will allow for a "very substantial decrease" in the "energy share" of the bill, Wargon emphasised.
