Electricity price increases on November 1: here's how much – 10 million French people affected

A discreet increase is coming for household wallets.

It's a discreet increase, about which no one has spoken out. However, around 10 million French people will be affected. In a few days, their electricity bill will increase. If the promise has been made up of a 10% drop on February 1st, a large part will have to pay more and very soon. But contrary to current events, this is not a political decision: it is not a tax or the cost of electricity that varies, but a much more discreet line, to which no one pays attention.

When you receive your electricity bill, there is only one element that is of real interest: the total amount including tax to be paid to Engie, EDF or TotalEnergies. Few French people really care about knowing what the amount to be paid corresponds to. Only a few do monitor electricity consumption. However, on the next bill, it will be very appropriate to check one in particular.

From November 1st, the price of electricity will increase. Or, more precisely, the cost of maintaining the electricity network. All French people pay them without realizing it. These costs are in fact distributed over the various lines of the bill: subscription, consumption and transmission tariff contribution. These are sums that suppliers must pay to managers (i.e., mainly, Engie and others at Enedis). However, suppliers do not take this money out of their own pockets: they apply this amount on customer bills. This is called the Tariff for the Use of the Public Electricity Network (TURPE).

On November 1, its amount will increase by 4.81%. Suppliers could have avoided passing this increase on to the bill. However, Engie has announced that it will Linternaute that “unfortunately we have no choice but to pass on the increase in this TURPE to our customers given the regulatory and financial constraints.” TotalEnergies did not respond to us.

Not all French people are affected by this increase on November 1st. This concerns those who have a contract with market offers or with a “fixed price”. On this last type of contract, only the price of electricity is fixed: not that of taxes and additional rates. For contracts at the regulated sales rate or offers indexed to this regulated rate, the increase in this rate will only occur on February 1st.

To estimate the amount of the future bill, simply take the last due date received and read the line below “Total electricity including tax”. This one, entitled “of which XX euros excluding tax paid to your distributor for the transport of electricity” (on Engie bills in particular), is the one that will increase by 4.81%. 

The calculation mechanism between excluding tax and including tax is a little complex but, for example, on a bill of 180 euros which includes 27 euros of transport, the total will only increase by approximately… 1 euro. A painless increase. But an increase nonetheless, which comes after several months of announcements of a drop in the price of electricity…