In anticipation of winter, the Minister for Energy Transition wants to reduce the tension on the electricity network by proposing an offer modeled on EDF’s Tempo product. This contract would also be distributed by alternative suppliers on the principle of tariff cancellation, very advantageous for a large part of the year and very expensive when it is very cold.
The Tempo offer offered by EDF has never been very successful. According to figures from the Energy Regulation Commission, as of December 31, 220,000 households had chosen it. A drop of water compared to the 21.75 million households subscribed to the EDF regulated tariff.
But the government wants to use it as the basis for a new electricity offer to reduce the tension on the supply network this winter. Tempo is in the process of getting a facelift. Discussions on the contours of the future offer proposed by EDF and alternative suppliers took place on Thursday, September 1 at the Minister for Energy Transition.
What is the Tempo offer?
The Tempo offer, offered by EDF, therefore makes it possible to vary electricity prices depending on the day of the year. 300 days a year you pay little, around 8 cents per kilowatt hour (KwH), these are the blue days. There is also 43 blank days between September 1 and August 31 where the price is that of the regulated electricity tariff (TRV).
But 22 days a year are red! You then pay your KwH 55 centsi.e. three times the level of the current regulated tariffs and whose increase has been capped at 4% by the government since October 2021. These red days correspond to the periods (between November 1 and March 31, i.e. that of the winter break) high demand and therefore often extremely cold.
There can be up to 5 consecutive red days (from Monday to Friday if there is no holiday in the week) if the cold period lasts, specifies EDF.
A Tempo day begins at 6 a.m. and ends the following day at 6 a.m. on the basis of the Peak hours (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.) – Off-peak hours (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) system. Customers are notified the day before the peak by SMS, email or on linein order to reduce or even cut off their consumption.
What are the conditions for subscribing to Tempo?
- Have a communicating Linky meter
- Have an electricity contract with a minimum power of 9kVA
- Have an alternative heating mode (wood stove, insert, etc.)
- Be ready to reduce and/or postpone the majority of your electricity consumption on Tempo red days
Is this type of offer profitable for the consumer?
According to Xavier Piechaczyk, the boss of RTE, French consumption will have to drop by 15% this winter for the electricity network to withstand the shock. On the model of Tempo, the government therefore wants to encourage tariff reduction in addition to energy sobriety. According to EDF, current Tempo customers reduce their consumption by an average of 95% during red days, or the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 13,400 households.
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It’s hard the first few timesthat’s for sure, but once you’re well disciplined and take care that all the devices are unplugged, it’s profitable, testifies to France info a follower of Tempo. What is very constraining is when there are five days in a row, that means no heating at all since we have electric heating. We only heat ourselves with an oil appliance and this forces us to limit the use of two rooms in the house, shade another.
Tariff erasure has never worked anywhere, not even in the United States because it is more suited to professionals than to individuals, believes Franois Carlier, general manager of the CLCV. To take full advantage of it financially, you have to be able to reduce your consumption quickly and well, and therefore to be very aware of the situation in the sector and very reactive. A single red day when the electric heating works normally and the bill will explodehe explains.
The accommodation must also be equipped with a mode of alternative heating such as a stove or a fireplace. Problem, the price of pellets or wood has also soared and the financial gain of a Tempo type offer would then be limited to less than a hundred euros per year for a family of 4, underlines an expert in the sector. In any case, to hope to save money, you will have to accept having the temperature of your home drop by a few degrees. It is because of all its conditions that the potential of the offer is limited in terms of financial gain for households and commercial success for distributors, judge Franois Carlier. The CLCV promotes for its part a reasoned consumption for the winter and a temperature of 19 degrees in the living rooms or at least a reduction of 2 degrees in habits.
The new tariff cancellation offer that the government wishes to put forward will be unveiled at the end of September. Asked by MoneyVox, the Minister for Energy Transition did not respond to our request for clarification on the date of presentation of this new offer inspired by Tempo.