“It's scandalous!”: the Linky meter costs consumers a fortune, for zero electricity savings (the Court of Auditors says so)

© Enedis

The arrival of the Linky meter will have caused a lot of ink to be written. And the new report from the Court of Auditors risks bringing back the worst criticisms about it. According to it, the deployment of Linky meters represents a colossal investment of 5.7 billion euros, entirely passed on to consumers' bills. This expense translates into a very significant increase in the tariff for using public electricity networks (TURPE), which represents around a third of household electricity bills. The French thus find themselves financing a project whose concrete benefits they have not yet seen.

Only 1% saving on electricity consumption

The benefits announced at the launch of the project are struggling to materialize. Enedis had promised significant savings for consumers thanks to better control of their consumption. However, the Court of Auditors notes that these advantages remain largely theoretical. The real gains in terms of energy savings are estimated at only 1% of consumption, far from the initial objectives which suggested significant reductions.

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The report also highlights that the system mainly benefits Enedis, which makes significant savings on meter reading and maintenance operations. These gains, estimated at several hundred million euros per year, are not reflected in consumers' bills, who continue to bear the bulk of the costs. In the midst of an energy crisis, this report risks sounding the revolt. Some French people have already taken the step of defrauding their Linky meter, with the risks that this entails.

A questionable environmental assessment

The environmental impact of the project also raises serious questions. The massive replacement of old meters generated a significant amount of waste, some of which contained toxic components requiring special treatment. The manufacture of the new meters required the use of considerable resources, including rare metals and electronic components.

The Court of Auditors notes that the overall ecological assessment of the project remains to be demonstrated, particularly in light of the limited lifespan of Linky meters, estimated at 15-20 years, compared with 60 years for the old electromechanical meters.

• The deployment of Linky meters cost 5.7 billion euros, entirely financed by consumers via their bills
• The savings promised to households represent only 1% of their consumption, while Enedis is making substantial gains
• The environmental impact of the project is questionable, particularly due to the limited lifespan of the new meters

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