The Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty assures that consumers will not have to finance the price shield in 2022 and 2023.
“French consumers will see no catch-up on their electricity bill in 2023”promised Bruno Le Maire during a press briefing this Monday afternoon while recalling that “electricity prices will be capped at 4% throughout 2022”. Faced with soaring prices, the government put in place at the end of 2021 an energy tariff shield, in particular on electricity, the price of which is therefore capped at +4% in 2022.
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This price freeze, which limits the profits of electricity suppliers, was to be offset by an increase in the bill for the French in the years to come. According to information published in Le Figaro of April 4, this was to result in a 7 to 8% increase in the tariff in 2023.
How to finance the tariff shield?
A prospect that worries consumer associations. “Such a catch-up is very likely to induce a stratospheric rise in the price of electricity in early 2023”expressed concern in a press release the consumer defense association Consumption, housing and living environment (CLCV).
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Bruno Le Maire therefore wants to be reassuring and undertakes that there will be no catch-up in 2022 and 2023. It remains to be seen how electricity suppliers will be compensated for the loss of income they suffer and who will finance this cost of the tariff shield. “There will be a need for additional funding in 2023”because “electricity prices have rather increased”, has already admitted Bruno Le Maire. This need for financing, “of the order of 2 billion euros”, “will be financed by the finance bill that we will examine at the start of the next school year, next October, for 2023”he promised .