Energy Rationing and Shortages Likely in France, Admits Electric Grid Chief

An illuminated sign on the exterior of a bar at dusk in Paris, France, on Monday, Nov. 14,
Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The head of the national electricity grid in France has warned that power cuts are still likely during the winter despite a decline in consumption driven by decreased manufacturing production.

This week, Xavier Piechaczyk, the president of the Reseau Transport d’Electricite (RTE), said that as a result of continued issues with the French nuclear power system, the country remains in a need of “particular vigilance” ahead of the winter months, warning that even if Europe experiences a normal winter, power cuts are likely.

“If it’s hot, you won’t hear about red Ecowatt. If it’s very cold, you’ll hear a lot of them, and if we’re in an average, median, normal winter, it will be a few units of red Ecowatt,” he said in an interview with Radio Classique in Paris reported by Le Figaro.

Earlier this year, RTE alongside the Energy Management Agency (Ademe) introduced an SMS energy warning system for the public, with a colour coded ‘Ecowatt’ system, with green signalling that everything is running smoothly, amber indicating that there are increasing issues, and red warning that energy cuts are inevitable.

“Until further notice, we remain in a situation of particular vigilance with some red Ecowatt in winter that are likely,” Piechaczyk said.

The electricity grid chief noted that the drop in energy consumption has given the nation a “little margin” to help prevent outages with usage falling by 6.8 per cent compared to averages between 2014 and 2019. However, Piechaczyk noted that this was largely driven by a fall in manufacturing.

“The decrease in their consumption is of the order of 15 per cent. This is not necessarily good economic news since it is linked to a reduction in production,” he said.

Even still, the RTE head warned that the drop in consumption could be mitigated entirely by continued issues with the nation’s nuclear power reactors, writing that it is “likely to be even less available than we had planned,”. The electricity grid operator has been projecting since September that only 45 gigawatts out of a typical total of 61 will be available for the winter. New projections to be released on Friday could see this drop even lower, however.

According to a report from The Telegraph, just 32 of the nation’s 56 nuclear power reactors were operational as of Monday. The reactors have been plagued by issues with corrosion, which have only been compounded by a series of labour strikes.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has described the situation as the “end of abundance”, called on the public to begin rationing their energy usage in September.

Compounding the energy woes for the French, approximately 20 per cent of petrol stations throughout the country — jumping up to 50 per cent in some regions — were reportedly either running out of petrol or diesel, resulting in long queues at the pump. The shortages come as the government is set to reduce fuel subsidies for fuel on Wednesday.

Since September the government has offered a 30 per cent rebate on petrol or diesel, with the state-owned Électricité de France (EDF) offering a 20 per cent rebate as well during the Ukraine war-influenced shortages. However, as of November 16th, the subsidy will drop down to 10 per cent, meaning to the cost for consumers will jump by as much as 40 per cent, sparking a rush to fill up on the cheap fuel.

The end of artificially cheap fuel and rising energy costs raises the spectre of potential unrest in the country, with France previously being rocked by the Yellow Vest (Gilets Jaunes) movement, which sprung up in 2018 in response to Emmanuel Macron attempting to raise energy taxes in order to fund his green agenda, a plan that he was later forced to abandon due to the populist uprising.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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