For the vast majority of households (97%), the increase in the electricity bill will be contained below 10% (at 9.8% for the peak/off-peak rate), assured the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, during an interview on the TF1 television news.
For 52% of households, this increase will be around 8.6%, according to Bercy.
Concretely, according to government calculations, these increases will result in an increase of 5 euros per month on average for households who do not use electricity for heating.
For a family with two children in a detached house with electric heating, this average reaches 18 euros per month.
These announcements are, after weeks of procrastination, in line with the promises of the government, which has ensured since the end of last year that the increase in electricity prices will not exceed 10% next month.
February is, in fact, a deadline because the regulated electricity price, from which the majority of households benefit, is reviewed twice a year, on February 1 and August 1.
This increase is part of the gradual exit from the tariff shield deployed since the end of 2021 to moderate the impact of the surge in gas and electricity prices caused in particular by the war in Ukraine.
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The government has already almost doubled the gas excise – a tax paid by natural gas suppliers – since January 1, which should increase the bill for subscribers.
For electricity prices, the minister had already announced an increase in the excise which currently stands at 0.1 cent per kWh (i.e. 1 euro per MWh).
On February 1, it will therefore increase to 2.1 cents per kWh.
The exit from the tariff shield, an “exceptional” system, will be done in stages with the final exit point being February 2025. And this, despite the protests.
“Many experts, including myself, believe that an increase in the excise on electricity prices would be a serious error at a time when we are encouraging people to electrify their uses for heating or vehicles”
, also estimated at the end of December the analyst specializing in energy Nicolas Goldberg, of the Colombus Consulting firm.