the electricity network manager is preparing for a tense situation this Monday morning

If possible, run the washing machine this weekend instead. Due to the cold spell, the electricity network operator RTE is predicting a tense situation on Monday April 4 in the morning. He therefore calls on companies and individuals to curb consumption at this time. In a press release, RTE thus asks “to companies and communities to moderate their consumption on Monday morning (in particular between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.) and asks the French who can to shift their electricity consumption to this weekend rather than Monday with regard to the use household appliances”.

In this context, TEN activated the orange Ecowatt signalits electricity consumption alert system. Monday morning, electricity consumption in France could reach 73,000 MW around 9 a.m. while national production should be only 65,000 MW at the same time, but France should be able to import up to 11,000 MW to pass this milestone, according to RTE, which considers that the situation could however be “tense”.

“RTE does not, however, envisage a power cut on Monday morning, unless hazards should arise this weekend.”

The RTE manager

in his press release

“These gestures can have a real impact, explains RTE. If all French people turn off a light bulb, this leads to a saving in electricity consumption of 600 MW, or approximately the consumption of a city like Toulouse. The French electricity system is under tension this winter due in particular to the low availability of the nuclear fleet, linked to a heavy maintenance schedule, further disrupted by the 2020 confinements. Twenty-seven nuclear reactors out of 56 are currently unavailable.