Without state protection, gas would be 105.1% more expensive than on October 1, 2021, assures the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE).
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The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) defends the “shield” put in place by the government. Natural gas consumers in France benefiting from the regulated tariffs of Engie (formerly GDF Suez) will continue to pay the same price on September 1 as last year, the regulator confirmed on Tuesday August 23. Without state protection, gas would be 105.1% more expensive than on October 1, 2021, he assured.
At the time of its creation by the previous government, on October 1, 2021, the “tariff shield”, which froze the applicable scales for regulated gas sales tariffs (TRV), aimed to spare French consumers an expected increase of 19 .5% of natural gas prices in November 2021, and the same level in December 2021.
The government expected gas prices to fall at the end of the winter. However, prices have continued to soar this year on European markets, especially since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24 and the gradual drying up of Russian gas exports to Europe. The prices will remain “frozen on September 1, 2022, at their level on October 1, 2021”specifies the CRE in its press release.
For 2023, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said in July that the tariff shield, which today also concerns electricity, could be replaced by more targeted aid for low-income French people. The government has yet to unveil its plan.