Faced with the imperative of energy sobriety, Orange wants its subscribers to switch off their box under certain conditions.
It’s official, it’s time for energy sobriety. Individuals, companies and public bodies are invited to drastically limit their electricity consumption. This should enable France to avoid any risk of untimely power outages this winter in a context of skyrocketing prices and an embargo on Russian gas and oil. Among the most obvious reflexes, it is advisable to turn off electrical appliances that you are not using. And in some cases, it could be the suppliers themselves who take care of it. Enedis has already announced that the triggering of the hot water tanks could be delayed in certain cases. It is now Orange that is betting on cutting its customers’ internet boxes. Rest assured, the operator is not going to turn off the machines remotely unilaterally, he wants to encourage them to do it themselves when they are running for nothing.
The question of connected objects
The internet boxes and decoders are indeed in operation almost all day. Many people don’t even think of cutting them off at night. Gold, in the long term, their consumption is not negligible : up to 200 kWh per year if they operate at full speed and 24 hours a day. That is the equivalent of a clothes dryer or a fridge rated rather well in terms of energy. This hardly represents more than a few tens of euros per year and per household, but all the same several billion kilowatt hours throughout France.
Orange therefore intends to send an SMS to its customers when their box works, but is not requested, asking them to cut it off. Regular reminders that could change habits, but still come up against certain pitfalls. In homes where only computers and televisions use the box, the operation seems feasible. However, connected devices, which are constantly updating, have invaded many homes. Connected objects include game consoles, refrigerators and thermostats.
Consequently, in these housings, the connections are much more stressed, and SMS may not occur often. According to the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), the proliferation of connected objects “in each dwelling and the growing number of equipped households explain the increase in electricity consumption. Beyond their performance, it is therefore important to also think about their usefulness… and over-equipment “.