The situation is alarming. Between the drought, the corrosion of the nuclear fleet and the threat of an embargo on Russian hydrocarbons, the supply of electricity to the territory is becoming increasingly difficult.
This winter and last fall, rainfall was not sufficient in France. Result: the hydroelectric dams are under tension. However, they represent between “8 and 13% of French electricity production, the second source behind nuclear”, specifies Le Parisien.
On the nuclear side, precisely, this is also the great concern. Nearly half of the French nuclear fleet is shut down, due, among other things, to the corrosion of the power plants.
The level of national electricity availability, below 30 Gigawatts, is historically low.
Especially since with the war in Ukraine, the situation is not likely to improve, quite the contrary, with the threat of a European embargo on Russian hydrocarbons.
In this context, the electricity bill promises to be (even more) salty for households in France. The Energy Regulation Commission (CRE) estimated this increase at 44.5%.
At the beginning of the year, the government had thus promised the establishment of a “tariff shield”, including the freezing of gas prices and a limitation of the increase in the price of electricity to 4%, to protect households and preserve, even a little, their purchasing power.
But ultimately, it is a catch-up in the fall of 2023 that will be put in place: suppliers will thus be able to apply an 8% price increase on the bill of individuals next year, in order to balance their income. “A family of four using electric heating, and who today pay around 1,700 euros per year, including subscription, will therefore be obliged to pay around 150 additional euros for this famous catch-up.” , explains the Parisian.
And this rise could well last in time, because the Russian-Ukrainian conflict still seems far from over.
And soaring prices should not be the only consequence of this very tense situation. Discover in our slideshow what could be waiting for you this summer to deal with electricity production in the red…