In recent years, energy prices have risen in particular in France, which is clearly affecting the finances of millions of households. As the month of July begins on Monday, a new gas price increase is in effect.
Despite the drop in gas prices that suppliers could witness between January and June, the increase in July was indeed maintained. Thus, starting this Monday, the gas bill should increase by 11.7% for millions of households in question, which represents an average reference price of 13 euro cents per kWh.
According to the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), the theoretical annual gas bill will therefore rise from €1,060 in July to €1,184 this month.
This new increase is primarily due to the contribution of Access to Third Party Distribution Networks (ATRD), a tax that represents 25 to 30% of individuals’ gas bills.
The stated contribution is determined to cover the costs of maintaining the gas network. Moreover, it should be noted that only individuals and companies are subject.
There is another factor in the increase in gas prices, which is the replacement of Russian gas with American gas, the founder of the consulting company Omnegy, Nicolas Leclerc, told Capital.
On average, households that heat with gas will see their bill rise by 5.5 percent, and households that use it for cooking and water by 10.4 percent.
However, CRE indicates that energy suppliers remain free to decide whether to pass on this increase in the benchmark gas price to consumers’ bills.
CRE advice to limit gas bill growth
Moreover, “CRE found it preferable, in order to reward consumers’ sobriety efforts while covering costs borne by suppliers, to limit subscription increases in its reference price. Some suppliers have applied this logic and CRE welcomes it,” the CRE statement said.
But even though suppliers have this freedom, “the vast majority of consumers will see this increase on their bills,” estimates Energy Mediator. “CRE invites consumers, based on their needs, to compare the various available offers using a public comparator energy-info.fr, we can read on the pages of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
