France Renouvelables has urged a structural shift in electricity pricing to better reflect the country’s growing renewable energy output. The organisation, which represents the renewable electricity sector in France, is calling for reforms that would allow consumers and businesses to benefit more directly from periods of high renewable production, particularly when market prices fall significantly or even turn negative.
The association highlighted that the typical French electricity bill consists of three equal parts: network charges including the TURPE grid tariff, electricity and supply costs, and taxes such as VAT, electricity excise duty, and the CTA.
France Renouvelables pointed out that spring, summer and autumn often bring high levels of renewable electricity production, while consumption patterns within each day are not always aligned with supply. Rather than seeing the resulting low prices as a malfunction of the energy market, the group views them as an opportunity. Taking advantage of these low prices could support French industry and lower costs for households.
One key mechanism in place since the 1960s is the peak and off-peak tariff system, used by about 14.5 million residential and small professional consumers. A reform of this system is already underway, with the Energy Regulatory Commission working to shift off-peak hours, especially during the summer months, to better match daytime solar energy production.
France Renouvelables is advocating for an extension of this reform through the introduction of seasonal time-based tariffs. These would include additional pricing windows such as “energy solidarity hours” or “green price hours” that reflect times of high renewable generation. While the current system encourages off-peak use through network charge reductions, the proposed changes would focus on adjusting the supply component of electricity bills.
The proposed evolution of tariffs aims to deliver four benefits. It would improve business competitiveness by making use of low-cost energy, which could aid France’s industrial revival. It would increase household purchasing power by enabling access to very low-cost electricity during specific times for programmable domestic uses such as hot water, appliances and air conditioning. It would accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels by making renewable electricity more financially attractive and promoting the electrification of daily activities, such as charging electric vehicles. Lastly, it would strengthen national energy sovereignty by prioritising domestically generated electricity over imported sources.
France Renouvelables believes that broad adoption of these pricing models, some of which are already being tested, could help shift consumption to align with renewable production. This would significantly reduce the frequency of negative pricing events and make better use of France’s existing energy infrastructure.
