“Under no circumstances is France at risk of a blackout,” the RTE network administrator said on Wednesday.
“We are facing an exceptional situation in France and in Europe”, stressed the president of RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, during the presentation of the outlook for the electricity grid for this winter.
Expanded Ecowatt
But faced with a “degraded” situation in France for the production of electricity, the manager has exceptionally advanced the “monitoring” period that will begin in the autumn and will refer in particular to the months of November and December.
In “the vast majority of situations”, RTE only considers “some red signals from Ecovatios during the 6 winter months”. Created in 2020, this device, also nicknamed “electrical weather forecast”, allows users to see the situation of the electrical system in real time and volunteer to reduce their consumption in case of voltage, when they receive an alert SMS.
The system, open to individuals, has been extended to so-called companies to carry out “eco-gestures”. For example, lowering or postponing your consumption of heating, lighting or cooking, especially at the most critical times.
A new “tariff shield”
In the context of the energy crisis affecting Europe in a context of depletion of Russian gas, the situation in France is weakened by the nuclear production of electricity at its lowest point, linked to work problems or corrosion in half of its 56 nuclear reactors.
Faced with the vertiginous increase in the costs of electricity and gas in the European wholesale markets, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, surrounded by the Ministers of Economy Bruno Le Maire and of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, must announce at 3:30 p.m. new terms and conditions of the tariff shield for 2023.
In 2022, the government blocked the increase in electricity prices for individuals by 4% and gas prices were frozen at the level of October 2021.
The Government, which is preparing its draft budget for 2023, has promised that the rise in gas and electricity prices will remain “contained” for consumers after the expiration of this shield on December 31, 2022. The question is whether what will be the increased rate applied, and clearly the level of protection granted to the French.
According to Bercy contacted by AFP, “some will be helped to pay the increases”, which must be announced during the day.
Regarding this issue of price peaks in the wholesale markets, “the level of risk revealed by the analysis of RTE forecasts does not justify such abnormally high levels”, stressed the manager of the electricity network.
For its part, the gas transmission network operator GRTGaz will present its winter gas supply forecast scenario early this Wednesday afternoon.
More information to come. Follow our direct.
Source: BFM TV
