Two decades after the start of its liberalisation, the organization of the electricity market in France “is no longer readable or controllable”. This observation by the Court of Auditors, in July 2022, is still valid today, when the Member States of the European Union intend to reform the market on a continental scale.
Since 1er July, a new example illustrates the inconsistency of the liberalization desired by Europe for energy. Now, pursuant to a European directive of June 2019, the main electricity suppliers in France are required to offer at least one dynamic pricing offer to their customers.
According to the directive, this type of contract − which presupposes having a Linky meter − must “ [refléter] market price variations.. Including on the daily and intraday markets, i.e. from one hour to the next. Problem: dynamic pricing contracts lend themselves particularly poorly to the current context, where the volatility of electricity prices on the wholesale market makes such offers unattractive. Even the Energy Regulatory Commission, responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the markets in France, agrees. “The directive has been hit by the energy price crisis and is no longer suited to the market as it is today”declares its president, Emmanuelle Wargon, at the World.
“It is not interesting for a domestic consumer or a very small businessestimates the national energy ombudsman, Olivier Challan Belval. Because you can make money, but above all you can lose it. »
High volatility
In recent months, the electricity price crisis has been there, already suspending some households from the high price volatility. In June 2019, the overnight megawatt hour was selling for around 30 euros. It is now three times higher (around 100 euros), after an even more impressive peak a year ago (more than 300 euros).
To still remain in compliance with the European directive, the Energy Regulatory Commission had to modify its definition of so-called “dynamic” offers. In May 2021, the independent administrative authority established that this type of offer should have a price “indexed for at least 50% to one or more spot wholesale market price indices (daily or intraday market)”.
A year later, its July 2022 deliberation expanded the scope. From 1er July 2023 to 1er July 2026, this kind of derogation will also cover the “market offers that financially incentivize consumers, in response to a short-term signal, to wipe out or shift their consumption within a day”.
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