Electricity prices: consumers will be able to benefit from “more off-peak hours during the day”

Emmanuelle Wargon, President of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), announces a change in the policy of off-peak and peak hours. Visit of the Minister of Economy dedicated to offshore wind power MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

The President of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) specifies that off-peak hours will also be a minimum of five hours, compared to eight until now. The decision should be official “within ten days”.

Guest of France InfoOn Saturday, February 1, Emmanuelle Wargon, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), the body that sets regulated electricity prices in France, announced a change in the off-peak hours policy, which allows you to benefit from more advantageous rates during off-peak hours and a higher price per kWh excluding tax during peak hours.

“The general idea is to put more off-peak hours during the day, we don't need to have eight off-peak hours at night, but off-peak hours during the day can be practical“, she declared.

“9 million households only have off-peak hours during the night”

Thus, instead of the eight off-peak hours applied until now at night, she advocates a volume of five hours minimum. Which, in her eyes, remains sufficient, in particular for those who, for example, need to recharge their electric vehicle. “We already have about 9 million households that only have them at night, and six million that also have them during the day”, she specifies.

This announcement comes at a time when the price of electricity billed to consumers is falling, for the first time in ten years, by an average of 15% since February 1. This drop concerns the 24 million French households subject to regulated tariffs. “The price of electricity had increased enormously during the crisis linked to the war in Ukraine and also following EDF's problems with its nuclear reactors, commented the president of the CRE. Now, this price is returning to more affordable levels on the wholesale markets and as a result, it is transmitted to the retail price of the French”.

The new measures will be applied in the second half of the year

The officialization of the new policy on off-peak and peak hours should take place “within ten days since a decision on it will be made next week”. Its application to consumers will then be effective “in the second half of 2025 until the end of 2027″. This will allow “to gradually change these peak/off-peak hours patterns”.

Emmanuelle Wargon believes that this development will be beneficial for consumers, since “as soon as you have more than 30% of your consumption during off-peak hours, you gain”. This is particularly the case “when you have an electric water heater”. It is, moreover, “good for the network, which is less saturated than when everyone consumes at the same time”. And it is, finally, also “better for the market and production”.

“No massive increase in the next four years”

The president of the CRE announced another “good news”: “we have reset the network tariff for four years on February 1st, it will only increase by inflation, plus a small regularization factor every year. So, there will be no massive increase in the next four years”.