RTE, which had placed France on alert and called for sobriety, welcomes a drop in electricity consumption in the country over a month.
In France, electricity consumption fell by 6.8% over one month, according to the latest figures communicated by the Electricity transport network and stopped on November 6, 2022. RTE even indicates that over the last week, consumption has plunged 7.6%. The awareness effort has undoubtedly played a role, but so has the particularly mild weather of the past few weeks.
” The bearish effect is accentuated », welcomes RTE
On September 14, RTE warned of possible tensions from October on the French electricity network. The manager therefore encouraged French citizens to reduce their consumption, with the aim of avoiding or reducing, this autumn and winter, the risk of targeted cuts. He then estimated the drop of 1 to 5% in a reasonable scenario, and up to 15% in his most extreme scenario.
” Compared to the previous update, the bearish effect is accentuated “, wrote RTE on November 6, thus welcoming the drop in consumption on the metropolitan territory (excluding Corsica). This decrease (of -6.8%) “ is mainly driven by industry, in a context of rising electricity prices “, explains moreover RTE.
But large industry reported a drop in consumption similar to that of the previous week. RTE thus attributes the overall and greater decrease in consumption in France to the residential and tertiary sectors as well as to diffuse industry.
A weather so far conducive to a drop in electricity consumption
Among the sectors whose consumption RTE is studying closely, that of large industry has done very well, falling from 4,564 gigawatt hours in 2021 to 3,985 GWh in 2022, over the last 30 days studied at the same period. Such a drop is extremely rare, even if a very slight gradual decrease has been observed since 2014 (when it peaked at 5,020 GWh).
On the rail transport side, we have reached a historically low consumption (556 GWh) over the last 30 days, even lower than during the two COVID years. In 2020 and 2021, it reached 563 GWh over the period, compared to 584 GWh in 2019.
Despite everything, we must not declare victory too quickly, because the weather has been a precious ally of RTE in recent weeks. In mid-October, some still had their feet in the water! ” October temperatures were well above the usual temperatures for the season “, explains the manager. It was only from the beginning of November that these approached what we usually see at this period, even if they are still above normal. RTE is aware of this: The mild temperatures at the start of autumn in particular reduced electricity needs for heating in the tertiary and residential sectors. The next statement communicated by RTE will undoubtedly be more telling.
Source : TEN
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