PARIS (Reuters) – The French government will cushion “part of the increase in the price of electricity”, the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher confirmed on Friday, while showing her confidence in the possibility of avoiding binding energy rationing measures for the coming months.
“We will amortize part of the increase in the price of electricity. (…) We did it last year, we will do it this year”, she said at the end of a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council devoted to energy.
A week before a European Council on energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher specified that the measures taken in recent months in coordination with the other Member States of the Union to secure their energy supply before the winter season were being bear fruit.
“We have secured our gas stocks, they are now 92% full, we can say that we are now almost at the target two months in advance,” said the minister.
She added that Russian gas deliveries were at their lowest but not cut, and that the electrician EDF had undertaken to restart “for the winter” the 32 nuclear reactors currently shut down for maintenance work. but also because of a corrosion problem.
French nuclear production should fall this year to its lowest level for 30 years and nuclear power provides 70% of French electricity production.
“We are confident that the levers of sobriety that are in our hands should allow us to avoid restrictive measures”, nevertheless said Agnès Pannier-Runacher before launching a new call for “collective responsibility” in terms of energy consumption.
“The more companies, the more local authorities, the more the State, the more the administrations, the more the ministries will be able to manage their heating, their electricity and their gas wisely, the less we will have to resort to restrictive measures which are in time or occasional.
(Marc Angrand and Sophie Louet)
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