The “explosion of bills” denounced by the UFC-Que Choisir



Electric meters (illustration). – FRED SCHEIBER / 20 MINUTES

The price of electricity is in the sights of the UFC-Que Choisir. The association denounces this Thursday an “explosion of bills” for electricity. It is also asking for a moratorium on the EDF restructuring project, which the UFC fears will lead to further price increases.

According to calculations by the association for the defense of consumers, the regulated sales tariff (TRV) of electricity has increased by nearly 50% in ten years. “An average household heated by electricity at the TRV will have seen their electricity bill go from 1,019 euros to 1,522 euros between 2010 and 2020”, estimates the UFC-Que Choisir.

The limits of regulation

However, it is not only taxation or the increase in transport and distribution costs that are to blame. “It is the very organization of the electricity market that is responsible for this increase.” The association cites in particular the mechanism by which EDF is forced to sell part of its nuclear electricity to its competitors, called Arenh (Regulated access to historic nuclear energy).

This mechanism, much criticized by EDF which is forced to sell its electricity at low prices, is capped. It represents a small third of the company’s production. “The rationing of the quantity of electricity thus available has pushed the prices of both TRV and market offers to increase artificially, and hit consumers very concretely”, estimates the UFC-Que Choisir. The effect is indeed direct for all: The alternative suppliers increase their tariffs because they cannot buy enough cheap nuclear electricity and EDF has a regulated tariff whose method of calculation is designed not to be too competitive in the face of alternatives.

UFC wants public debate

The UFC-Que Choisir is also worried about the current negotiations on the future of EDF, for which the best remuneration for nuclear power is precisely one of the challenges. It fears “sharp price increases” on access to nuclear power, which could have to bear the cost inflation of the Flamanville EPR in the English Channel. The association ultimately calls for “the establishment of a public debate on the future of this regulation, on the basis of transparency on the costs actually borne by EDF”. In the meantime, it calls for an “immediate removal of the ceiling on Arenh volumes accessible by alternative suppliers, to put a stop to the current inflationary spiral”.



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