Electricity consumption in France is leaping 13 % on Monday compared to the same date a year ago, according to data from the High voltage electrical network manager RTE, while the heat wave settles in almost all France.
At 1:00 p.m. Monday, electricity consumption in France was 57 gigawatts (GW) against just under 51 GW a year ago. It was increasing since Saturday and Sunday, respectively 4.6 % and 7.8 % over a year, even if it remains largely below winter consumption, more important due to heating needs.
A “subsade” start to summer last year
This increase in electricity consumption comes while the heat wave on France and southern Europe is increasingly intense, now with temperatures between 30 and 35 ° out of a large part of France. A year ago a year ago, the beginning of summer had been “sullen”, according to Météo-France, with only a few summer days at the end of the month.
The phenomenon is not entirely due to an increased appeal to air conditioning or fans to refresh itself, but can also be explained by the greater electricity needs linked to data centers or industry compared to last year. In his summer 2024 report, RTE underlined that “the impact of air conditioning on consumption (electricity) was estimated between 700 and 1,100 MW (0.7 to 1.1 GW, editor’s note) per additional degree, depending on the temperature conditions encountered at national level”.
