Power cuts: “There is no need to panic,” says Marlène Schiappa

Rotating load shedding, canceled trains, closed schools… In a circular, the government asks the prefects to anticipate possible power cuts this winter. The objective is thus to avoid the black-out, a general breakdown with much heavier consequences. According to the Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy and Associative Life, Marlène Schiappa, “there is no need for panic”. “If each of us makes these small gestures, we will reduce consumption by 10% in accordance with the government’s plan and there will therefore be no cuts”, she assured the microphone of Europe 1.

How will they be organised, who will be affected and how can they be avoided?

Commonplace in many foreign countries where sensitive customers have emergency generators, these rotating load shedding, linked to a lack of electricity due to historically low production of the nuclear fleet, would be “unpublished” in France, according to RTE. Power cuts would be “inevitable if electricity consumption does not decrease” at the peak of the day (between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.), warns RTE, which forecasts the month of January as the most at risk.

“There are people who don’t worry about the amount of their electricity bill, who don’t turn off the lights when they go out… When you’re not in need and you don’t have this habit of really drastically managing their electricity bill, these are habits that we have not adopted. So the idea today is that everyone adopts their new habits, including for their own bill and their own consumption”, encouraged Marlène Schiappa at the microphone of Europe 1. These targeted cuts will last two consecutive hours maximum in portions of departments but these cuts are still only scenarios, she tempers.

How many cuts are envisaged?

The interministerial crisis unit is working on the hypothesis of six to ten load shedding during the winter. Corsica, which has its own production, is not concerned. The risk is “a few days of red EcoWatt throughout the winter”, warned Thursday Xavier Piechaczyk, the chairman of the executive board of RTE on France infoeven if it “essentially” depends on the weather.

How will the French be warned?

In the event of high voltages, RTE will send a red EcoWatt signal three days in advance. If consumption decreases and neighboring countries can supply electricity, the blackout will be avoided. If this is not enough, load shedding will be confirmed the day before for the next day as a “last resort”.