Bruno Le Maire had announced that it would be maintained until 2025. Finally, the government backpedaled. The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Gabriel Attal announced this Thursday during an interview on RTL that the government would “gradually” put an end to it. By the end of 2024, this measure on electricity prices introduced to fight against inflation, will stop.
“As soon as we have to make savings, we must in particular get out of the specific mechanisms that we put in place during the inflation crisis”, “that means that we will have to gradually get out of the tariff shield on energy prices,” said the minister. “It’s not going to happen all at once, all at once,” he specified, but that means “that by the end of 2024, in particular on the tariff shield on the electricity, we will gradually get out of it”.
From gas to electricity
The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire announced in April that the tariff shield limiting the price of electricity for individuals would be maintained until the beginning of 2025. On the other hand, he had announced on this occasion the end of that on gas , effective since the beginning of July.
On Tuesday, three economists from the Economic Analysis Council (CAE) had recommended in a note to quickly end the tariff shield on electricity prices for the wealthiest households in order to reduce its cost while encouraging energy sobriety, “given its weight for public finances”. Excluding the 20% of the wealthiest households from the shield could thus make it possible “to make budgetary savings of 5 to 6 billion euros”, estimated Xavier Ragot, one of the authors of the report.
Prices that would have jumped 100% in 2023
On the other hand, “the most modest would continue to benefit from support”, had recommended the CAE, referring to the distribution of an energy check to the most modest households. During his interview on RTL, Gabriel Attal said his desire to “put an end to this policy of exceptional checks that we have been able to put in place on such a subject for such a category of French people”.
According to estimates by the Energy Regulatory Commission, electricity prices would have jumped 35% in 2022 and 100% in 2023 had it not been for the price shield protective device. The government estimated at the end of 2022 at 110 billion euros between 2021 and 2023 the cost of the energy shield for households, communities and businesses.