Energy poverty, a growing problem affecting a rising number of French citizens, manifests in a persistent difficulty to pay electricity and gas bills. In 2024, the National Energy Ombudsman reports that over a quarter of consumers struggle to meet their energy costs, exposing them to the risk of electricity cuts or power reductions. This precarious reality is accentuated as the National Day Against Energy Poverty approaches on November 12.
During the winter of 2023-2024, one-third of French people endured freezing temperatures in their homes. Data shows a notable increase in the number of households that limit heating to control energy costs. According to a recent survey, 75% of French households restricted their heating use, a phenomenon that persists despite the recent slowing of price hikes. For 28% of households, energy bills are so high that they become nearly impossible to pay, creating a constant threat of power cuts.
Interventions Due to Non-Payment: Power Cuts and Reductions
In cases of non-payment, consumers may face either electricity disconnections or power reductions, according to the Energy Ombudsman. For households receiving the energy check, a power reduction is sometimes preferred. EDF, the primary electricity supplier in France, adopts this method to avoid full disconnections. In 2023, over a million households faced interventions due to non-payment, including 265,000 electricity and gas disconnections, an 18% decrease from the previous year. However, power reductions, limiting supply to 1 kilovoltampere (kVA), increased by 15%, affecting 736,000 households.
These power reductions, while less drastic than a complete cut, present numerous challenges for the affected households. A 1 kVA supply allows only minimal functioning of essential devices such as a refrigerator, a lamp, or a phone charger, indispensable for contacting social services or the electricity provider. However, heating equipment and electric water heaters exceed this limit, imposing significant constraints on daily life.
Everyday Repercussions: A Difficult Organization
The Abbé Pierre Foundation and other organizations fighting against energy poverty are alerting the public to the social and psychological consequences of these restrictions. Hélène Denise, an advocacy officer at the Abbé Pierre Foundation, emphasizes that energy should be recognized as a basic necessity. For 88% of the affected households, daily organization becomes a challenge, despite the advantage of retaining a source of light and some functional equipment rather than enduring a complete blackout. These power reductions are seen as a lesser evil, but they significantly complicate domestic management, forcing some to frequent laundromats due to the inability to use their washing machines.
Yvon S., a 70-year-old resident of Somme, experienced this situation last summer. With only 920 euros in pension, he was forced to subsist for a month with limited electricity, preventing him from cooking properly. “For a month, I had to survive on sandwiches, unable to use my hotplate,” he shares. This account illustrates the growing precarity affecting modest retirees and the fragility of current solutions.
Energy Check at Risk: Less Accessible Protection
The Abbé Pierre Foundation is also concerned about the reform of the energy check, whose automatic distribution is now suspended due to the removal of the housing tax, which served to calculate its amount. According to Hélène Denise, this change risks excluding already struggling households, making access to financial aid more complex, despite its essential nature. In this context, electricity providers may no longer identify eligible households, leaving families without a safety net.
The disappearance of automatic distribution risks reinforcing the underutilization of this assistance by households who, due to a lack of information or resources, do not request the energy check. The consumer association CLCV (Consumption, Housing, and Living Conditions) shares this concern, fearing that many households will be excluded from the system, further exacerbating the energy poverty of the most vulnerable populations.
