Energy insecurity: the sword of Damocles of power cuts and reductions

In 2024, more than a quarter of French consumers had difficulty paying their energy bills, according to the Energy Mediator, and were exposed to the threat of a power cut or a power restriction for just a few appliances.

A week before the National Day of the fight against energy poverty, on November 12, the Energy Mediator recalls that "energy poverty is still strong" but notes that it "is a little less present in the minds" of people living in the 2.007 households surveyed in September.

During the winter of 2023-2024, a third of French people suffered from the cold in their homes, twice as many as in 2020. And 75% of households say they reduced heating to avoid having bills that were too high, a proportion that remains significant even if it is decreasing after five consecutive years of sharp increases.

For 28% of consumers, energy bills were so high that they had difficulty paying them.

Basic necessities

In the event of non-payment, a household risks a power cut by its supplier or a reduction in the electrical power of its home if it is a beneficiary of the energy check or if its supplier has decided to no longer carry out cuts, like EDF, which supplies around two thirds of French households with electricity.

The number of interventions for non-payment exceeded one million in 2023, according to the Energy Mediator: 265.000 electricity and gas cuts, down 18% over one year, but reductions in electricity power increased by 15%, to 736.000.

These figures are "very worrying" for Hélène Denise, in charge of advocacy against energy insecurity at the Abbé Pierre Foundation. According to her, "energy should be recognized as a basic necessity", like water.

The power reductions, to 1 kilovolt-ampere (kva), are just enough to run a fridge, provide lighting and charge a telephone, essential for calling social services or the electricity supplier, recalls the Energy Mediator.

"These are really essential needs", electric hot water tanks generally exceed this limit and "electric heaters even more", indicates Frédérique Feriaud, general director of services of the National Energy Mediator.

Reduced power also means no more washing machine and the need to go to the laundromat or a circuit breaker that often trips in the first few days while you figure out which appliances can be used.

"Sandwiches for a month"

A situation which makes it difficult to "organise life around the home" for 88% of households concerned and questioned in 2023 by EDF, but which is "obviously better than finding yourself in the dark overnight", which can be experienced as "a trauma", affirms Hélène Denise.

A situation that Yvon S., a 70-year-old resident of the Somme, experienced last summer for a month. "At home I have a hotplate so I couldn't make coffee or eat. For a month I ate sandwiches!" he told AFP.

A social worker helped him get help and spread out his debts, but with his €920 pension and winter approaching, he is worried. "Fortunately they (the electricity supplier, editor's note) no longer have the right to cut off from November 1st."

The Abbé Pierre Foundation is, however, concerned about the cessation of the automatic sending of energy checks to their beneficiaries, for whom electricity suppliers must, in the event of non-payment, reduce power for 60 days before a dry cut.

"There is a significant risk that individuals will not use this energy check and suppliers will no longer be able to identify vulnerable households" and therefore grant them this special protection, underlines Hélène Denise.

The sending of energy checks will no longer be done automatically due to the disappearance of the housing tax which was used to calculate the check.

The consumer association CLCV also fears the exclusion, "due to non-recourse, of a large number of very low-income households from the system".

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.