French energy giants urge households to make ‘massive’ effort to limit electricity usage
‘The effort has to be immediate, collective and massive,’ companies warn residents
French energy bosses have urged customers to start cutting back on their energy use amid warnings of a winter electricity shortage.
The bosses of France’s three energy giants called on households and businesses to prepare to cut back on electricity and gas use as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuels fears of shortages.
Catherine MacGregor, chief executive of Engie; Jean-Bernard Levy, who heads up EDF; and Patrick Pouyanne, chair of TotalEnergies; made the plea in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
“The effort has to be immediate, collective and massive,” they said.
They said: “For months now, the European energy system has been under great strain and the French energy system has not been spared. Russian gas deliveries by pipeline have fallen sharply for some countries, including France.
“Although increasing, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are still too limited to compensate for these decreases. The alert level for gas stocks at the European level is therefore high and rationing measures have been put in place in some countries.
“The soaring energy prices that result from these difficulties threaten our social and political cohesion and impact too heavily on the purchasing power of families.”
The call came after the French government said last week it aimed to have its natural gas reserves at full capacity by autumn as European countries brace for supply cuts from major supplier Russia with the Ukraine war dragging on, and would build a floating terminal to receive more gas supplies by ship.
The three bosses said in the article that European energy production was further hampered by hydroelectric production suffering from drought.
“The surge in energy prices resulting from these difficulties threatens our social and political fabric and impacts families’ purchasing power too severely,” they said, adding: “The best energy is the one we don’t use.”
They added: “Every consumer and every company must change their habits and immediately limit their energy consumption, be it of electricity, gas or oil products”.
Replenishing reserves of natural gas over the summer is a priority, as is “eliminating the national waste” of energy, they said.
Japan is also urging residents to cut back on electricity use amid a sweltering heatwave in the nation. The government asked people to turn off unnecessary lights for three hours from 3pm Tokyo time while “properly using air conditioning and hydrating during hot hours”.
In the UK, millions of households could be paid to use less electricity at peak times this winter under plans from the National Grid to reduce the risk of blackouts.
Government modelling suggests that in a reasonable worst-case scenario Britain could face rolling blackouts this winter. Ministers have already asked National Grid ESO to pay Britain’s last remaining coal plants to delay planned closures and stay open this winter.
The French government plans to restart a coal-fuelled power plant located in the eastern Moselle region to meet the country’s winter electricity needs, according to media reports, citing a statement from the Ministry of Energy Transition.
The government shut down the power plant in Saint-Avold in March as part of president Emmanuel Macron’s plan to close all coal-fuelled plants by the end of the year to protect the environment and Earth’s climate.
One coal-fuelled power plant in France remains open. The Saint-Avold restart would only be temporary, given the “situation in Ukraine” and the “uncertainty of the energy markets,” radio station RTL France reported Sunday, citing the ministry’s statement.
No Russian coal will be used and France would still remain below 1 per cent of coal-produced electricity, the statement said.
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