“It's a daily ordeal. I spend nights in the cold without sleeping counting the miserable euros I have left. If a testimony was needed to illustrate and understand the fuel poverty that concerns 12 million people in France, that of Jean-Claude, 71, and his wife perfectly illustrates the infernal financial spiral in which an energy sieve can take away retirees. The couple rented a 90 m2 house in Guise (Aisne) where the four radiators were struggling to heat the house. The owner does not want to hear anything, refuses any work to improve the insulation and is content to pocket the rent of 426 euros. “We put the radiators to a minimum,” says Jean-Claude, a former salesman, who receives a monthly pension of 850 euros. The temperature does not exceed 15 ° C. "
The situation got worse last year when his supplier sent him a regularization invoice for an amount of 1,200 euros to be paid in addition to the 2,000 euros paid annually.
Faced with the impossibility of paying the sum due all at once, Jean-Claude received a cutoff notice before reaching an agreement at the last minute.
“It's all the more annoying to owe such a sum and to spend so much each month even though we can't keep ourselves warm.
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1000 watts of power to heat meals and turn on the light
It is precisely to avoid such situations that the Abbé Pierre Foundation (FAP) is campaigning for the establishment of a minimum electricity service guaranteed by law. The association officially appeals to the government for such a legislative device to be put in place. “On the model of what has existed for water since 2013, electricity must become a basic commodity. We must abolish cuts throughout the year and not only during the winter break, ”insists Christophe Robert, general delegate of the FAP. “The cuts are not worthy of a modern country like France,” he argues. It is a question of dignity. Before we preached in the desert on the subject but the sensitivity of opinion has evolved. This right must now be enshrined in law. "
Read also Energy cuts, even during the winter break
Concretely, the minimum service would take the form of a minimum power of 1000 watts delivered to households in difficulty under the blow of a cut.
"Enough to heat a meal, turn on the light to do homework and keep a fridge running but not run a water heater or a washing machine", summarizes the representative of the FAP, while specifying that the device does not This does not mean the cancellation of debts.
"A cut is very violent," testifies Laurence, a resident of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) unable to cope with an inexplicable surge in her bill last summer.
One morning, we wake up, and nothing more.
It's not that we don't want to pay, it's that we can't.
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A measure estimated at 50 million euros
For the FAP, there is an urgent need to legislate for the establishment of such a right, especially as one in five French people say they have suffered from the cold this year. Precariousness is gaining ground as evidenced by a barometer from the Energy Mediator. The latter recorded 280,000 cuts in 2019. A figure up 17%. "And soaring gas and electricity prices will push thousands of homes into difficult situations," predicts Christophe Robert.
Plüm, an alternative green electricity supplier, has been experimenting with its own funds since last summer with a service similar to what the Foundation wishes to set up.
“We've been talking about it to the FAP for a year.
Thanks to the Linky meter, which equips 80% of households, it is possible to limit the power of the remote meter, details Lancelot d'Hauthuille, co-founder of Plüm, an approved social utility company.
In less than a month, subscribers to the minimum offer had regularized their situation.
According to the company's calculations based on its experience, the minimum electricity service would cost the state 50 million euros per year.
