The electricity transmission system operator RTE will pay back at least one billion euros to its users at the beginning of 2023, an unprecedented amount, due to the strong increase in its revenues, it announced Wednesday in a statement.
RTE proposed, “to anticipate this restitution” so that its users, “in particular the large industrial sites, benefit from this support from the beginning of 2023″, “in the context of soaring energy prices”, explained the manager.
This exceptional refund, which “corresponds to the exceptional surplus expected for 2022 under the effect of tensions on the electricity market”, could even reach more than 1.5 billion, “a first”, says the company.
It will target “nearly 380 industrial customers connected to the high and very high voltage network, including 200 electro-intensive (large consumers of electricity) who could see themselves returning a total sum of up to 130 million euros”, said to AFP Laurent Martel, general manager in charge of the finance and purchasing division at RTE.
“Nearly a third of the tariff paid in 2021 by users of the public transport network could be returned to them,” according to a statement.
This concerns in particular “53 large chemical sites”, “80 metallurgy sites”, “34 steel sites” and “about fifty paper and cardboard sites”, according to Mr Martel.
With nearly 90%, the largest share will go to the distributors, the low and medium voltage network managers, such as Enedis and certain local distribution companies that act as intermediaries between RTE and the end users – companies or individuals.
It will allow to mitigate in the long term possible “tariff catching up” which would be applied to the consumers because of overcosts undergone by these distributors, explained RTE to the AFP.
The surplus comes in particular from the tolls paid under European law “by electricity importing or exporting suppliers to be able to use the cross-border interconnections operated by RTE”.
“These revenues depend on the volumes exchanged at the borders as well as the differences in electricity prices between France and its neighbors,” according to RTE.
However, in 2022, “the widening of price differentials between France and its neighbors has led to a considerable growth in revenues related to cross-border interconnections,” the operator points out.
In the current context of low national electricity production, due to the unavailability of half of its nuclear power plants, France has increased its reliance on electricity imports from countries where the cost is lower, such as Spain, Germany and Great Britain.
Without this advance payment measure, proposed to the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE), the application of the rules would have spread the restitution over years, RTE assures.
