Ohm Énergie enriched himself dishonestly? The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) is putting pressure on alternative electricity suppliers, one of which, Ohm Énergie, is now under initial investigation, suspected of having made undue profits on markets with nuclear electricity purchased cheaply from EDF.
Wholesale electricity prices in Europe have exploded since the war in Ukraine, sometimes exceeding 1,000 euros per megawatt hour against less than 50 euros historically, to the point that the European Union is now seriously considering market reform. This surge in prices has led the French energy policeman to step up its surveillance of operators in France this summer, who benefit from de facto subsidized electricity.
“This investigation in no way prejudges at this stage the existence or not of breaches that only an investigation on the merits will, if necessary, establish”, nuanced the commission on Friday in a press release. It “confirms that certain suppliers are the subject of ongoing investigations, in particular with regard to actions likely to constitute an abuse of Arenh”, regulated access to historical nuclear electricity, i.e. say the mechanism by which suppliers buy cheap nuclear electricity from EDF.
This first survey, revealed by The Parisian, is therefore targeting the alternative supplier Ohm Énergie, founded in 2018 and which claims 250,000 meters, compared to around 100,000 a year ago. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, he had said earlier “not to have received any notification from the CRE concerning the launch of a procedure against him”.
The independent authority chaired by former minister Emmanuelle Wargon suspects him of having bought nuclear electricity from the Arenh and resold it on the markets at a higher rate instead of passing it on to his customers. . Facts disputed by Ohm Energy, which claims to have “never sold the slightest kWh of the Arenh on the markets”, according to its president, François Joubert, a former EDF engineer. “Its prices after the increase remain lower than or equivalent to those of its competitors and (…) it intends to maintain them all winter without an additional increase”, the company further argued. “The responsibility for the crisis is not to be found among the alternatives but more in a catastrophic unavailability of nuclear power”, reacted François Joubert to Agence France-Presse.
Another target company
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CRE’s investigations may lead to a referral to the Dispute Resolution and Sanctions Committee (Cordis), which may decide on any sanctions. In a press release, the consumer association CLCV (Consumption, housing, living environment) explains that it has already alerted the authorities for months to “a risk of Arenh speculative fault” on the part of alternative suppliers. The problem, she says, is a “circumvention of the Arenh rules” which consists of “wanting a lot of customers in April and September” at the time of the “Arenh quantity control”.
“During the winter, they canvassed customers with an advantageous rate, approximately – 10% compared to the regulated rate, except that, in the contract, the rate only started from April”, described to the Agence France-Presse François Carlier, general delegate of the CLCV. “They only want to have customers between August and the end of September, when there is no heating and there are Arenh’s controls,” he summed up.
According to the association, suspicions also target the company Mint Énergie, against which the company has initiated a class action. “Mint practiced lower prices than usual during a period of Arenh checks”, emphasizes François Carlier.
The electricity market was opened up to competition in 2007 for individuals, an opening that began in 1999 for companies that consume a lot of energy. At the end of August, the CRE called on suppliers “to adopt responsible behavior”, in the midst of soaring wholesale prices, fueled first by the post-Covid recovery and then by the war in Ukraine which caused gas prices to rise. For the regulator of the sector, it is a question in particular of ensuring the regularity of the modifications of the contracts in progress and controlling the absence of “undue profit” on the Arenh. The regulator recalls that individuals and certain small professionals can always change contracts, and choose EDF’s regulated tariffs, frozen since February by the government’s “tariff shield”.