Emmanuel Macron estimated this Monday that the new 10% increase in regulated electricity prices on August 1 was a “proportionate decision”, recalling that the “taxpayer pays what the consumer does not pay”. “This summer increase” is “important for many of our compatriots who are already in difficulties, but I think it is a proportionate decision”, advocated the President of the Republic in a television interview broadcast from New Caledonia.
“The nation has invested around 40,000 million euros to absorb this shock but somewhere it is the taxpayer (…) who pays what the consumer does not pay,” he insisted. According to him, “when we look at neighboring European countries, we will have increased electricity in our country much less than in most of our neighbors”.
European reform to reduce the cost of electricity
The President of the Republic promised to “continue supporting in the coming months” the evolution of the price of energy thanks to the production of “more electricity by restarting our nuclear power plants” and finalizing “a reform at European level that will allow us to reduce our cost of electricity because France has been penalized by the calculation rules”.
Under pressure to reduce the cost of the tariff shield, the government announced on July 18 a new 10% increase in regulated electricity tariffs, unleashing a barrage of criticism from the ranks of the opposition and consumer associations. Signaling the gradual end of the tariff shield established for two winters to reduce the bills of the French, this increase will affect homes, small businesses and craftsmen “connected to a meter with a power of up to 36 kilovolt-amps”.
The previous increase (+15%) dated back to February, after 4% in February 2022. Since 2021, the regulated tariff on which some 23 million customers depend (out of 34 million), will therefore have increased by 31%.
Source: BFM TV
