France’s Macron vows to ‘take back control’ of electricity prices by end of year

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French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday his government would “take back control” of electricity prices by year end.

Issued on: 25/09/2023 – 19:14

1 min

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the opening of a special climate meeting at the Élysée Palace in Paris on September 25, 2023. © Michel Euler, POOL, AFP

Without spelling out what steps he would take to do so, Macron said state ownership of utility EDF and France’s nuclear fleet would help achieve this.

“There is a point that is key for our competitiveness, and we will announce it in October, and that is to take back control of electricity prices,” Macron said as he announced a multi-year environmental plan.

“We’ll be able to announce in October electricity prices that are in line with our competitiveness,” he said, adding that this would apply to households and businesses.

“By the end of the year we will regain control of the price of electricity, at the French and European level,” he said.

An Elysee official said that would be achieved via a French energy law, to act on the fact that gas prices have inflated electricity prices in Europe, and in particular in France, amid the Ukraine war.

That would be done without waiting for a reform in the works at European Union level to be wrapped up, the official said.

In a country that is banking heavily on nuclear energy to limit its emissions, measures in the multi-year green transition plan include an end to coal-fired power plants in 2027, encouraging the French to ditch thermal engines for electric cars and promoting heat pumps as a way to heat houses.

To achieve a 55% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 compared to 1990, “we must succeed in doing more in seven years than what we have done in the last 33 years,” the Elysee said in a press note.

The government had already said that a further 7 billion euros would be set aside in the 2024 draft budget bill for environmentally friendly investments, financed by removing some of the tax breaks which some industries get on their fossil fuel use.

Macron said on Sunday that the government would ask the fuel industry to sell at cost price and would grant 100 euros in aid to the poorest workers who drive to work, to stem the impact of inflation on households.

(Reuters)