Fire extinction. Faced with the energy crisis which finds its starting point in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, France could well go through gas and electricity cuts this winter.

If the winter is harsh, and the cold seizes the housing of the hostels, it may be necessary to equip yourself with a few blankets, sweaters and tealight candles.

The government’s goal? Avoid this scenario by favoring a phase of energy sobriety, the President of the Republic having enjoined the citizens to provide “efforts” and “sacrifices”.

How will the electricity grid hold up in the event of a shortage? On social networks, the rumor swarms, and some Internet users happily claim that a “super clamping”, or “shedding” will be put in place via the Linky counters.

An approach which would correspond to the limitation of the power of the devices to 1, even 2 kVa, in order to avoid the general cut.

Carried out remotely, this operation would make it possible to maintain the supply of certain essential devices, such as computers, telephones, refrigerators or even lighting, but would limit the use of heating and household appliances (oven, dishwasher , tumble dryer, hotplates, etc.).

What is it really ? Will the owners of an anise yellow meter be the only ones to suffer from this “restriction” that is causing so much talk on social networks? Is it really a question of such an approach? To set the record straight, Planet interviewed the principal concerned, Enedis.

“The possibility of calling on exceptional, preventive, localized and controlled outages over periods of approximately 2 hours has always been one of the mechanisms that can potentially be activated in the event of risks to the balance of the electricity system in France”, Enedis explains to us.

Thus, this mechanism is indeed likely to be used as a last resort not by Enedis itself, but by the Electricity Transport Network (RTE).

This decision will be taken to preserve the balance between supply and demand, and only “depending on the situation of supply and production of electricity in France”, confirms the manager of the distribution network.

What relationship, then, with the Linky counters?

Enedis representing the public electricity distribution service over 95% of France, it can effectively, on the decision of the RTE, carry out the technical gesture to “implement exceptional cuts organized at the scale of a territory directly on the medium voltage electrical network and not depending on the Linky meter equipment”.

There is therefore no question of discriminating between households according to whether or not they have a Linky meter, nor of limiting the temperature of your heating, and even less of preventing the use of your electrical appliances. If there is a power cut, it will be in the most classic form.