Controversy over Linky water heaters and meters: what does the measure taken by Enedis change?

For twenty-four hours, many French people have questioned, even protested, the measure taken by Enedis at the request of the Ministry of Energy Transition with regard, in particular, to hot water tanks.

The formulation according to which the maneuver consisted in cutting off the water heater of several million households through their Linky meter between noon and 2 p.m. aroused the ire of specialists.

goes into detail on the ins and outs of the measure which, as specified on Tuesday, should prove to be perfectly painless.

Let's start by specifying that the measure only concerns homes, businesses and communities that have subscribed to a power less than or equal to 36 kilovolt-amperes and who have chosen a so-called

subscription with their electricity supplier.

It is precisely this

mechanism , which has already existed since the 1970s, which is actually at the heart of the measure decided by the public authorities.

This type of contract consists of operating certain devices via the electricity meter at times when demand on the electricity network is low

the so-called

in return for lower billing.

This delayed control is carried out thanks to a

the electrical device is connected”, explains Nicolas Goldberg, specialist in these questions.

Abolition of off-peak hours between noon and 2 p.m.

The water heater is one of these electrical devices that can be controlled insofar as it works by accumulation: the water is heated then stored at temperature in the tank and can therefore be consumed later.

In the same way, electric inertia or storage heaters, as well as certain household appliances (washing machine, dryer, dishwasher in particular), can be programmed by the user to operate at off-peak hours, when the demand for electricity on the network is weak.

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In many contracts, the so-called

period takes place at night, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and in the middle of the day.

The measure taken by the government and put in place by Enedis simply consists of abolishing the off-peak hours between noon and 2 p.m., sometimes called

.

says Nicolas Goldberg.

In short, consumption habits have changed and the midday off-peak hours are no longer really so.

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The abolition of the off-peak hour regime in the middle of the day from 15 October will therefore prevent the automatic triggering of appliances such as electric water heaters during this time slot.

,” recalls Nicolas Goldberg on LinkedIn.

Same observation for the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir:

.

In summary, the households concerned by the measure should not lack hot water, whatever the time of day and night.

Significant energy savings

As already indicated, the

contracts existed before the deployment of the Linky meter.

So why are only homes that are equipped with it affected?

Because “

, explains Thierry Sudret, operations director of Enedis.

Without this option specific to the Linky meter, the measure would have been expensive for households: all of their appliances would have been considered as operating at peak hours and electricity bills would thus have increased.

Moreover, the measure is in no way coercive.

Everyone is allowed to deactivate the control of their water heater at "peak hours/off-peak hours" mode, but this does not

, defends Nicolas Goldberg.

As a reminder, the energy savings allowed by the measure are not anecdotal: 2.5 GW at 12:30 p.m. and 1 GW at 1 p.m., according to Enedis.

This further limits the risk of power cuts during the peak which occurs daily between noon and 2 p.m.

"

", insists the manager of the electricity network.