A text published in the Official Journal on Sunday February 26 prohibits energy operators from immediately cutting off electricity to households benefiting from the energy check or aid from the housing solidarity fund (FSL) whose bills are unpaid.
This implementing decree for the Purchasing Power Act passed last summer requires suppliers, from 1 April next – end of the winter break – to provide for a power reduction period of at least 60 days before any cut.
To benefit from this protection, the households concerned must also have a Linky-type meter. An additional condition which should however penalize few households whereas the rate of equipment of these electronic meters would today be between 90% and 95%.
Winter break
Households with payment difficulties, beneficiaries of the energy check – automatically paid by the State to eligible households – or of aid from the housing solidarity fund (FSL), granted on request by the departments and via social workers – already had a protection mechanism against non-payment: they could pay their energy bills within 44 days (compared to a legal period of 29 days) following the issue date or the bill payment deadline before the supplier suspends or reduces the power of electricity or gas.
During the winter break (normally set from November 1 to March 31), a period during which any power cut is prohibited, no reduction in power could also be imposed on these modest or struggling households.
For more than a year, moreover, all customers of Plüm Energie, and of the historical supplier EDF, were assured of not being cut off due to unpaid bills.
An “additional respite” for low-income households
” The decree which has just been published provides recipients of energy vouchers and FLS assistance with additional respite after the winter break, by offering them 60-day protection against any power cut, regardless of their electricity supplier. ‘energy “, explains Gwenaëlle Lejeune, lawyer specializing in energy and housing for the UFC Que-Choisir association.
” This is a welcome step forward because, apart from the winter break, no particular protective device has been planned until now. But we can regret that the text does not go further to ensure that all households have access to electricity, which remains a basic necessity.. For the households most in difficulty, this will not ultimately prevent a power cut “, she underlines.
Power reductions may remain drastic
During these 60 days, the power reduction may also fall to 1 kilovoltampere (kVA) – enough to ensure on paper the lighting and operation of a refrigerator – a fairly drastic limit, and the text of which does not Above all, it does not provide any precision relating to the conditions of its application, notes Gwenaëlle Lejeune: “ The 2008 decree* relating to the procedure applicable in the event of unpaid energy bills, which governs in particular the power reduction that suppliers can apply during the winter break, precisely indicates power reduction floors according to that subscribed. For a household with a power of 6 kVA or more, for example, the power reduction cannot fall below 3 kVA. » As it stands, the new text will therefore provide less protection than that provided for during the winter break…
* Decree No. 2008-780 of August 13, 2008.